LAWN TENNIS.

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 1931, 13 December 1913, Page 16

LAWN TENNIS.

[Br Backhand.] CLOSINC OF THE ENTRIES. Entries for tho New Zealand championships close on Monday next) with Mr." A. J. l'etherick, secretary of the i\ r ew Zealand-.Lawn Tennis Association, Wellington, It is one of the conditions of the tournament that entries must be made through tho lion., secretaries of clubs to which the competitors belong.

Those who intend to journey to any of the district tournaments at Christmas time, should note that entries Tor seforat of them close during the coming week.

Tennis players were fortunate enough to have an ideal day for the*. games last Saturday, but during the week the weather conditions liavo been ' right against play. Perhaps by this afternoon tlio rain will have spent itself, but at tho time of writing it is certainly not promising. Stray Items. It appears that tho reason why Brookes forfeited to Heath in the Victorian championships was owing to his not being well enough to play two matches in the one day. .It was a great disappointment to .tlio crowd, aB Heath was in fine form, and/would probably have, fully extended Brookes. ' It is stated that the West Australian Lawn Tennis Association made a 'profit of.'£7o over .the Australasian championships. Tho association was badly in need of this little help. Mr. John M'Cormack, the woild's famous Irish lyric tenor, is a great tennis enthusiast, and when in South Australia recently ho enjoyed many a game on Mr, Clem Hill's private-court, Adelaide. Pscugis beats Gobert. Tlio final of the Men*s Singles Championship of Paris, played on the covered courts of the Sporting Qlub de France last month, resulted in Max Decugis beating J. H. Gobert, 5—7, B—G, G—o, Gobert played a strong defensive game, but it was evident, says the "New York Herald'' (Paris),. that ho lacked sufficient training. ■ Full Blue Awarded. An important and popular decision resulted from an application made by tlio Cambridge lawn tennis officials for granting a lull Blue (says a Homo paper). At a meeting of the Blues Committee, lield in November, it was dccided to. award full Blue to those players who take part in both single and doubles, and they further dccided that it should becomo operative from the last Oxford and Cambridge c'ncoutir, tor, consequently the Light Blue skipper, Hope-Crisp (Queen Elizabeth School, Barnet, and St. Catherine's), Hi C'.' El'tringham (Charterhouse and Caius), C..N, Thompson (Grahamstown and St.: John's) will be tho first set of players-'to'-receive full honours.

Views in the West ant! the East. In tho faco of tho statements which have appeared in tlio Sydney papers regarding the supposed action of tho Western Australian authority-in having detained in the State Eastern States players who' should, to < their way of thinking, have been "otherwise engaged —say, in Victoria —it will be interesting to know what will be said_ concerning tho action of H. A. Parker in declining •to leave bore in tiino to take his place 'ill tho N.S.AV. toam to play against Victoria (says a writer in the "W'estorn. Mail"). He received an urgent telegram during tho progress of tho tournament to tlio effect that ho had beon picked to play for. his State, but ho declined to catch the boat whicli would havo taken him there in time. Probably AYestcrn Australia will "catch it" because ho did not go, though acting as a perfectly free agent. It is sure to bo another cause for complaint against tlio. State. Perhaps AVestern Australia will also bo implicated in Jones's decision to go straight on to N.S.AV. by mail instead of staying in Victoria, as he was asked to do, to take his place in the championships with Doust as a partner. •■ |

No Apologies. "Austral," in the Sydney "Referee," has been-apologising for Brookes in connection' with:his defeat by Doust, but another Sydney writer, "Footfault," in tlio "Daily Telegraph,"-declines to adopt this attitude. Commenting 011 tho match, he says:—

It has become quite a habit in New South AVales to consider tho five matches in which Brookes participated as certain wins for Victoria. And this year no allowance had been made for tlio forta produced by Doust. To say that il waa good is much too mild. He played better than wo have yot seen iiim play in Australia. Certainly, Brookes was not tho player that 011 several occasions helped to win tlio Davis Cup for Australasia, nor did ho produco tho same form as when ho played l'arko and Dixon in Sydney last January, though in his match against Rico, an hour before lie played I)oust lie was in capital form, as also was tho ease in tho first set against Doust. After that Doust played the better tennis of tho two. Frequently he intercepted the quick returns of Brookes in a marvellous fashion. His fieetness of foot was a great asset, and like Parlto in Melbourne in tho Davis Cup match, he was able' to get to tho short-dropped volleys, and score off thorn. Doust was tho quicker player in - getting to the net, and when there sprang at tho returns from Brookes's racquet, and volleyed the ball across the court at such sharp angles that Brookes was loft standing. Doust's volleying was almost porfect, and Brookes seemed unable to anticipate it at all. Brookes's display was considered beneath his usual form, but was good enough to make 0110 believe 110 .would have won had not- Doust played tho wonderful game ho did.

Doust possesses a scrvico that appears to tho ordinary onlooker as plain and simplo. Ho delivers it without any apparent effort, or pace, but it skims tho net, and falls with excellent length almost 011 tho line. The greatest difficulty it presents is its failure to riso any distance off tho ground. Doust played it well on to Brookes's backhand, which is much weaker than his forehand. But tho weakest spot in Brookes's gamo was his inability, at tho moment to overcome tho peculiar strokes of Doust, which woro entirely different to thoso 110 had boon accustomed to for some years. In taking tho service he stood close up to tlio sorvice-line, and adopted tho same method of dealing with tho slow, low hall, as lie did when ho negotiated tho fast and high-bounding services of players liko M'Lauglilin, Dixon, and Beamish. Doust's servico required quite different handling. Brookes persisted in playing to Doust's backhand, which during this match at all events, proved to bo far stronger than his forehand. Tho success of Doust over Brookes was tho sensational incident of tho series.