Much Can Be Learnt From Style Of Visiting Tennis Stars

Chronicle (Levin), 2 December 1948, Page 7

Much Can Be Learnt From Style Of Visiting Tennis Stars

"Volley")

(By

It was pleasing to see quite a number of Levin tennis enthusiasts watching the games of the professionals* at Palmerston North last week. I should think that there were about 1500 spectators and these included quite a number of school children from Palmerston North and Dannevirke, but there did not seem to be any organised party of scholars from Levin, although ) some of these young people were present.

The day seemed made for the occasion. The court before play looked perfect, but it soofi became clear that there was a lot of clover in the turf, which in places wras like a skating rink, especially near the back lines. This was a great handi'cap to the players, whose game depended very largely on tneir ability to move and stop quickly. The first match, Pails v. Segura, showed both players possessing beautiful strokes, rather faster on the forehand than on the backhand. The accuracy of the shots and the pace at which the ball moved brought frequent and well deserved applause from the gallery. " What was particularly noticeable, and I hope that the Levin spectators paid close attention to it, was the perfect footwork. Both players would take the ball on the backhand almost with their backs to the net, so getting tiiat control and pace, which are the marks of a first class player. On a good court; I feel sure that Pails would have beaten Segura, but the evident difhculty he found with the slippery court undermined his confidence and he missed shots wnich norma1 ly j would have been easy. Early in the j game he won points by cutting short returns just over the net, but gradualiy Ihe shots were deep and fast from corner to corner, backhand t'o backhand, with an occasional sweep down the sidelines.

Their services were very fast and in nearly every case were to the backhand. In the Kramer v. Riggs match we saw a Splendid exhibition of : fast accurate play. If the .court ! had been good we should have had one of the finest exhibitions of j tennis seeh in this country. Stand- ' ing to receive service, the players were on their toes. Kramer, particularly, struck me as beipg like a dancer — ready for any position in a split second. I cannot remem- j ber seeing him "aced," although j Riggs' service is severe. Kramer 's . service was like a cannon ball and | in one game three aces went I down. | Brilliant though Riggs is, he was 1 no match for Kramer, wno, whenj the opportunity came, would -send 1 down a killer. Remarkabiy few , balls were netted — cuts by inches j were generally responsible for the ' loss of a point. Again it was very! noticeable that these great players! considered their opponent's back-j hand was weaker than the forehand, because 90 ,per cent. of the i shots were from backhand corner j to backhand corner. It was not t monotonous because of the speed j and the occasional variation of the j sequence by a ball straight down | the sideline. j