TENNIS NOTES.

Press, Volume LXVII, Issue 20171, 25 February 1931, Page 4

TENNIS NOTES.

NATIONAL RANKING ESTIMATED. PAST YEAR'S ADVANCEMENT IN ENGLAND. [By Sbbvxcb.] It is a . curious tradition of the New Zealand Lawn- Tennis Association that the national ranking lists should be withheld hntil' the end of the season, when they have ceased to be of value. . There can be little interest in the Association's assessment of the perforn:i ances of players who have retired for the winter, particularly since Jft ''tho beginning of the next season their placinga are no longer reliable. The lists ghonld surely be issued by the end of January at latest, for by then all the important championships have been played, and the different performances defined; but since they are not issued. "Service" feels at liberty to make some suggestions of his own. For the men's list he would suggest the following placing® (the New Zealand Association's ranking at June 30th last is given in the second column):—

An attempt has been made W avoid | the Association's compromise of brack-1 eting two and three players together, | although .in some cases it has led to difficulties. Stedman is ranked first solely^on his performance in. winning the New Zealand title. He has since i playedin only two North Island champ- ■ ionships,inone of which Wilson defeated him. In spite of his bad' beginning at the Dominion championships, France de- „ serves to hold th§ second placode won the Wellington provincial championship and played brilliantly in the Wilding Shield' content/ defeating both Angas ijid Seay in straight t sets. Angas has beqn moved down to third 'place. He has beedl beaten by both France and Stedman .and BiS-form generally has'not ' been as good' as in the 1929-30 season. Among the next *three-r-Wilson, Laurenson, and Sturt —it is very difficult to judge. Aa the ..winner and -runner-up in the' Anokl&nd championships, iiwwhich Wilson' competed", Linrenpon ana .Sturt are entitled. * i the: < higher ' places; biit' WilsOn- has been preferred' because Tie' hfts\pliyed in many more ,mkches than either of the others, and ! hia record in those matches is i |>obd. * Baftleet's performances Jiave been very uneven. He reached the final of the North Island championship, Uut Tfrttoed WUsatf,' In .the Aqckwals 1 besten by same time, he could his own in the seventh v pjapp. |jen next on the : JiSs .place should ' qeybefflre He played b"ili- - Angas in*the New Zealand championships, and in the . Wilding ShieH match heat Patterson after bethird'.set, ' Catafcidering thai he haft spent much of his time yachting, France has been playing this season very welt indeed.. The ninth position goes to Patterson, Canterbury's second man, who took a set from Stedman'in the national championships, and wa* second to Angas for the provincial Patterson has .'been developing a .mom aggressive game and now playa fetter lis# feyer before. The *oth doubts,! to Snpett, largely because there wan no stronger el&imants. Both B. Mel* FerItiMv.and -Jlpmßen- have fore the xironer pp in the New _ Zealand mart be oaalstenf man has been longlvhemay lack specm'B Banking. reaaon, the women's than the ' follow: /l. .Miss D. NichoUs s£. Mrs W. Melody ' 3. MisajuWjorie •fhlWli '- Macfarlane Myers Ms® ;Wakfe| 6. M^i£.A»d?ew fi. Mi*s M» Wiyte ;I.W W. A. Scott fj'n Mis# 1 B,> Knight 1$ -k^a r Macfarlane ctC ; b6th:th'e, New Zealand 'dnd Mrs H. M. Pxjes :C^ S WW May Speirs) has deOnitoly. regained, hpr position ut the isr.the'Dominlon. ThSd Wchplls who, though laying poorly at tho national in, the subsequent '*#(^lFxs6^Hp^|i^mentß.; Sho'' may even lie'entitled to Misb MaefarTaue'a 'ittt Adtoptf.i®' another who be;gfiajthe sewi|in .badlybutjare'r improved. :®4B,#ven p?etereioe M. although Miss Myers played !:4xuw»ely'.''S r e3r the New Zealand ,pmplbSa»i™. .Mjis's Wake had, to 'in' eh'amplonßliipa, but.later ,tf<M|,tbb(Canterbury title, playing more' ' than' in lp3o. Mrs Melody .ptfcticularly,-distinguished her* smgles, although some'may stiir Mr 'aboye Miss Myets and Miss WWe <ir oyon above Mrs Adams. Eighth to belong to Mrs and Mias" Knight/ but the H beyond selection. Except toj'dopbles; Misa Andrew has played juetify hw inclusion. a»<TMr« W. a. Scott Jiavs lieithjar been prominent, Bepre';sentatiyesi *idp Qtagp pnd Auckland may ■Mfth hivi qlain> r bit it ia i&pOB"to relative .merits. ' /■' , ul||ss N7}nneley,iTfho had-the npione joiatiifetiQn r of Vfinning tie NAw ,Zealw»d tltle'.for successive yoaw, from -1395 r rint-l 1907, visited ai»3, iif cpmpany 1 •'S|ip<#'etstry:; r <tf the' (Mr ,B. l dßz6wning); made her first inspection Eliding Park". She was highly pleased -^he' 1 courts and 'Miw • Ntmneley

jfjn | - *peeomen'a i the jllow: tbolls (bdy * ■8

Canterbury at Timaru on Satnrd&J next:— . H. A. Barnett Miss M. Wake J. R. Crawshaw Miss M. Sherris J. E. Johnston Miss B. Macdonald J. G. A'Court Mrs B. A. Miles ■ A. R, Cant Mrs E. "Peppier B. Browning . Miss "V". Bloor The men's team is a very young one, and for that reason the selectors have thought it necessary for Browning tc be included as manager. The women's team represents almost the chiei strength of thev province, such as it ie at present. Banking Matches. During the past week there has Wen somewhat more activity on the ranking lists, which close for the season or t Saturday next. The following are b recent results: — Men's singles: H. G. Searle beat N, Anderson for 14th place, 6-3, 4-6, 7-5j ' J. H. W. Sheppard beat D. F. Glanville • for third place, 6-3, 6-2; B. A. Barrel - beat A. Borrows for 18th place, 6-1, 6-4, Men's doubles: L. Armstrong snd N. Daly beat A. R. Cant and H. S. P. Anr drews for 13th place, 7-5, 6-2; W. G, 3 -Morrison and C. G. S. Ellis beat Cant - and Andrews for 14th place, 7-5, 6-3; j J. Fisher and J. A'Court beat R. Brown- ., ing and S. W. Field for 6th place, 6-3. 1-6, 6-4. - 5 Women's doubles: Misses E. Johnston i and M. Sherris beat Misses M. Wake 5 and Miss Andrew for first place, 7-5, 2-6, 6-3; Mrs M. Stedman and Miss ; Saunders beat Mrs B. Miles and Mn 5 W. Peppier for third place, 3-6, 6-4, 6-4, ' Miss Walce has withdrawn her name - from the lists, partly because of an in- . disposition which has remained with her since the New Zealand champion- ' ships and partly because of Miss Andrew's absence on holiday. Sheppard, it will be noted, has again defeated Glan,ville. Sheppard won the first, match between the two, earlier in the season, but since then Glanville has always prevailed. Cant and Andrews, who not so long ago beat T. W. Patterson and P. E. Allison, have sufferod two successive < defeats by pairs who are normally not their equals. , Progress of English Tennis. An interesting review , of English t lawn tennis in 1930, stressing its defin- ' ite advancement to a place among the > nations, is made by H. S. Scrivener in ' the London "Morning Post." The ! greater part of Mr Scrivener's article is • quoted below:— 1 "I have heard it said, and have even [' seen it stated in print, that English ' lawn tennis has made no progress dur- ' ing the past Beason. We are still, to quote a expression, marking 1 time. With this view, lam pleaße'd to J say, I cannot agree. It is my firm be- ; lief that H. W. Austin has at last | reached a position which enables him to compete in terms of equality, even though he might not; beat, them, with any of the big four who between them ' have held the British, American, and ' French championships since 1924—Ti1: : den, Cochet, Lacoste, and Borotra—to whom must. now be added J._ Doeg, sinco he'has supplanted Tilden,in America this year, and now Tilden has an- - nounced his definite ;intcjdtiori' of throwing up his amateur status for devotion to the film profession. For some considerable time past Austin has shown* now and again- that he has it in him to rise to great heights, but these manifestations have almost invariably been followed 'by some untoward set-back which has shaken out confidence in him. We may, recall, for-instance, that h9 r the; semi-final 5 at .Wimbledon in 1929 before losing to Borotra in four sets, aad that early .in 1930 he beat Borotra, :on*a court in Para).. This was followed, however, by a breakdown- (Saused by his ' old enemy, cramp, in tlio Davis' Cup tie against by hip .exelqaion in consequence frtwirour nextDavis Cup team which was beaten by Australia. And then, right at tho end of the season, came his second defeat of Borotra, this time on the East C6urt at Queen's Club, upon which the Frenchman, had nover before been beaten—not even by the great Tilden himself. A week later 'on the same court Borotra had his revenge; but it was anybody's match to the finish; and in both these matches a's weir as.in others which Austin-played in between them ; there was that indbfln- ' able something /about hirh; a mixturo of confidence,-,-eow&ntratioiy and lack of self-consciousness which I'had never seen before, 1 except in occasional "glimpses; neither-was there, even .when .the fight was at its hottest, the faintest suspicion of a' breakdown, either physior mentaL w l£6r the pre&ja,t, there.Jfpro, atiany am incurably opti-A-tisjlti; J\ * > ope swallow/,does not <make. a': suminers "tout in H/;<J;, N. tee .yre bare a better and player, notwithstanding!^-limitations, than'this, cottntry has produced for several seasons past,,whilst"in F» J. Perry, though .there is something in .his game which is Peking at .present, we have nn - all-rounder of the Austin Type, who lias 'in him the stroke-equipment of a potential jjhampion, and a pretty good physique' into the bargain. Another player tyhose existence yre are apt to forget, because, hVspencW so mijch'of h is time abroad, is G. PT IJughes, the only player Tilden, of Course—to take a set off Allison" at Wimbledon. , "Our Davis Cup record was disapwe only scraped home against Germany, and lost tP Australia, whom, With or s without Austin, We'ought to have beaten. It was,, perhaps, hardly to he expected that Lee and.. Gregory would both play as indifferently in the singles aa they did. Hughes, the rereserve'man, would probably have dpne at least as'.well as either, bf. them, and possibly, better than Gregory.. < "Oar women Regained the Wightman Cup, which they had only lost narrowly the year before, and, although ' Mrs Moody ia admittedly in a class by herself individually,, we can Still- claim to be- able to place ia the field the strongest team of women in the world. Nevertheless,! the performanc.es of our women "at Wimbledon, like those of our men, were" hardly as .good as they should have been< j - The Champion Nation. "Of our .two greatest'rivals, France, in virtue of her retention of the Davis Oup, is still; the champion; nation. But she has to live'tip to a very high standard, and is going tp'find it a tfit of a job to. do BQ V > Her 'big four' upon 'whom she has so far'been able to rely with such'confidence cannot go on for 'ever, and the young players capable of shouldering 'their, load When the time comes have yet to-be discovered.. It is'different with America, whose younger playerp. are already treading heavily i upon the , heels of their elders. " "When had one-nation ever put on at Wimbledon aa -fine a team of. young tigei's as-' Allison, Doeg K Lotfy .Mangin, ran Rya, and Belli One ,of them, DdQg, hats already superseded Tilden as champion ,of * America, and there are others on- the same plane tjrhom we in this country .have' not -yet'- seen- r . I think I ,ean foresee that the day of the return of the Davis Cup to the. land of its origin iff not' very 'far distant. And, perhaps* later on, an. English team may be going oat to* try and tfarry it backito (the country which was the first to take it away, with'a fair prospect.of sneceedin^ ,> t

1. A; G. Stedman. - 1. C. Angas. 2. D. G. Prance. 2. D. G. France. 3. G. Angas. 3. E. L. Bartleet. 4. N. R. C. Wilson.. 3. 0. E. Malf roy. 5. J. T. Laurenson. 5.1. A. Seay. 0. N. G. Sturt. 6. N. R. 0. Wilson 7. E. L. Bartleet. 6. A. C. Stedman. 8. A.L. France.6. N. G. Sturt. 9. T. W. Patterson. 9. A. L. France. 10. H. A. Barnett.' 10. J. C. Charters.