TENNIS FOR LADIES.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume V, Issue 47, 22 November 1890, Page 15

TENNIS FOR LADIES.

TO THE EDITOR. Sir,—l read, with some indignation, the remarks from a London magazine, quoted by ‘A Mother of Tennis-mad Daughters’ in your last issue. The injustice of them must be plain to all those ladies who, with myself, are true lovers of the game. With tennis, as with all other sports in which ladies nowadays so fieely indulge, the immodesty or unwomanly behaviour mentioned in the quotation must surely, in a great measure, depend upon the girls themselves. It ought to be, ami it is quite possible for them to take part in tournaments with their own or the op]>osite sex, and yet remain as dignified and ladylike as their less enterprising sisters who may have never handled a racket. The demeanour of some of England's finest lady tennisplayers clearly goes to prove my assertion, and why should girls, who love tennis for its own sake, be denied the'chances of testing their skill, not for the paltry reward of a ‘ plated teapot or silver bangle,’ but for the glory of proving themselves victorious, in the pastime in which they excel ? With regard to the strange and unbecoming appearance of the costumes worn by ladies on these occasions, surely that is a matter of opinion, for a cool flannel tennis costume, when well made, can be made to look as graceful, if not more so, than the much be-trimmed atrocities one sees daily in our streets. Fearing I have trespassed too much on your valuable space,—l am etc., Two Sides to a Question.