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LAWN TENNIS

DAVIS CUP VISITORS PLAY STOPPED, BY RAIN Those tennis enthusiasts who went to the Thorndon courts on Saturday afternoon to see the matches between UlO English Davis Cup players and tho New Zealand representatives were treated to good exhibitions of tennis. One Bingles match, between Beamish and Peacock, was plaved, and the doubles match was partly played before rain interfered with the plov. The weather was glcaniy and cool in'the early afternoon, but the sky soon began to cloud over, and about three o'clock a very light rain began to fall. It gradually grew heavier, until it was at length decided, when the turf was already quite damp, and tho players themselves must have been damp enough to be uneom ortable, that the match should lie abandoned for the day In the ordinary course of things there should have been two singles, Beamish against Peacock and Lowe against Oilivier, but Lowe is fai too lame to play any more singles without a rest. In fact, it is. very sporting, and perhaps not very wise,.for linn to play at all while his strained muscle or tendon imposes such a, severe handicap upon him. A Good Battle. ■ It is generally considered that Oilivier to-day is a better player than Peacock, and on this, reckoning -* nosed that Beamish, who beat Ollmer mi Friday, would'account for Peacock on Saturday. But it is extreinclj doubtful whether on present foi 1 Oilivier is better than Peacock,, for the Wellington man is playing jut »hout as good a game as he could show when he won he* New Zealand championship. His game with Beamish was rather a bette? spectacle than the OUvueiBeamish P contest had been, and the result was quite as good from tho New Zealand point of view Beamish won ihTfirst set 0-3, lost the second b-3, ami took tt third U-8. Right through the match both players maintained *»* speed and good length, and both of tl cm ame nto the net a great deal more than had been the practice of any players^ in singes matches on tho first day. tea cock went in on every occasion when advantage allowed him to do so, and tli» tacVes certainly paid him. Beamish a so camo in quite often, .and showed I hat he £ notes, formidable 0 player cb un than he is on the back line, ine Engl hman has a remarkably attractive s vie He plays just as easily, as accuaVev, and affast on the backhand as on tlie forehand, and he handles his racket with the utmost freedom, whether win"U with his full arm for a dnvo down 1.0 court, smashing on overhead , lalor dropping a short one across the art His best shots, however, are h s 3- shots down tho side lines Pe - S" style looks cramped by compariSn but on Saturday ho hit with the K?eat confidence, kept an excellent fength an<r 6 enfc l»ck «) s * drives at a very hot pace. In nil.the match there Mas but little aulty pla • Vow strokes wero lost by netted bails from weak strokes or by. similar misX. Generally the winner of a stoke had to play for Ins win. Tho Play. Tn the first set Peacock held Beamish J rbr first sW games, when the score f ? V 1 f rh,«? all Then Beamish won IX Peacock's service won the next K ame on his own service after e'deuce calls, and ran out on tho ™vf iriine taking the set 67-.1. . The second set was striking m a leas one 1 spect-tliaf neither player able to win from his own service. ho 1 to win g the set. first two games^f after three douce calls. 3 Beamish won the match 6-3, i », * The Doubles. All the crowd "ere curious as to how the rival teams would fare m the rton hies tilav It was known ot a ceiramiy thai the" New renrosentov« would come in to the net and stay "un* „,.i on their previous play it appe.uui that he visitors would make most of teir play from the ba» line. ,1forecast was not qnito Justine I, i«' Beam 4 came in just as readily M eithw of the New Zealanders, am seemicd V»t» little bottei ; thnn T at i» them when he got there. .Lowe, beau e his lame leg made it for him to do otherwise, had to slay on Beamish to race back for a to» H 0 oJould pass out of reach. Lowe is Socially handicapped by Ins lameness He is such a good tactician that he anticipates his opponents' intentions very often, and is relatively seldom out of position, but the lack of mobility *ite a grievous handicap. The match was not'finished owing to ram. but it would have surprised nobody to see the T\ew Zealanders win. With Lowe in proper playing condition the position would bo different, but the New Zealanders ought to beat them if it is possible to play the match to-day. The great weakness of the JNew /.ealantl pair is that they do not play afc a team. They have never played as a double in their lives before, having never met on the court except as opponents. They often failed to work together, got in each other's _ way, and otherwise showed weaknesses in combination. This demoralised their play generally for a time, causing both of them to miss shots which should, under ordinary conditions, <havc been certain winvpti for them. It was this demoralisation that allowed the • visitors to m in he fi«t set quite easily. Beam,sh showed that he is strong at the net, a merciless P»nisher of the slack: ret.in.. None of his smashes were returned. He drops them short, and the ball is out of reach until it falls among the spectator. To score these shots he plajs r"ht up to 'the net, and not, as most New Zealanders prefer to play, six or eight feet back from it. Beamish again showed tho utmost scorn for Oilivier s adaptation of the American service Ho always went in to it, took the ball at the top W its flight, and slammed it hard on either hand, being most severe when the ball swung to Ins backhand, as Ollivicr's deliveries nearly always do. Details of Scores. The visitors took the first three games and at this stage looked like winning the whole match with «eta. «o m»rf^od was their superiority. The Now falanders had not yet found themselves. At first their volleying was weak, and thev allowed themselves either to ,bo beaten by simple speed, or by being played out of position. Then they won a game on Bcamish's service, then another 011 Ollivier's, both by good play. Then it was Lowe's service, and tho Eii'dishincn rarely lose on Ins service. To "begin with the service is very good, and then Beamish is very hard to pass nt the net. This made the score 4-2 in favour of England. Peacock won his service to love, and 'Beamish with his '■ervice also won; 5—3, England leads. Oilivier won on his service, and then it was Lowe's service again. Iho !mglislniien won tho set, C—4. ■igaiii in tho second set the visitors jumped off with a lead of two games, but Oilivier and Peacock settled down lo the' realities of the business better in a few mii'iites, ranking some very guild play, with suuipy cross-court volleys. They equalised the score at three all. and established a lead on the rest game. Englnnd equalised at four all, and again at five all. Then the New Zealanders won (he noxl. tivo games and the set, 7-5. At this stage play had to cease 011 account of the rain. As a mutter of fact, play ought to have ceased earlier, but both the management and playcis wished to let tho spectators see as much play as was possible. This is 11 match to be decided on tho best of five sets, and these two sets played on Saturday will not count- The, match will be re-

played this afternoon at 2 o'clock. The courts will be heavy, but the management committee anticipate that they will be fit for play unless there has been heavy rain overnight. Instead cf the 2s. Od. entrance fee, an all-round charge of Is. will bo made to cover expensw. VISITORS ENTERTAINED. J The visitors were the guests of the Now, Zealand Lawn Tennis Association at dinner on Saturday evening. _ Sir. ■11. M. Gore, president of the association, was in the chair. Sir William Eraser j> was present on behalf of the Ministry }' and Councillor George Frost as Deputy- £ Mayor, p In proposing the health of the visitors t Mr. Gore referred to the satisfaction of v New Zealand players when they hud a learned that Messrs. Beamish and Lowe had decided to come on to the Dominion, '' the only disappointment being in the ' fact that his Army duties had prevented (, Colonel Kingscoto from. accompanying them. However, that disappointment v would more than probably be removed when the Davis Cup finals were played ° in New Zealand later in the present j year. It must be. admitted that' the 3 visitors were; more than a match for our c local players, but the latter had by no v means been disgraced. , Mr. Beamish thanked the president for f his expression of good will to Mr. Lowe p and himself, and said the opportunity to „ visit New Zealand had been greeted as ,i providing a most fitting climax to the Australian tour. They had been given ' the best of good times by the best of ( good fellows. They had been given par- 1 tirularly good tennis, as his friend Mr. Ollivier could testify, In the past seven ( years the. latter had beaten him three • times, while he had managed to capture l tho New Zealnnder's scalp only once. Ho . referred briefly to certain newspaper <\ comment as to tho arrangements and characterised it as quite unwarranted. < Personally ho had such a Rood time in ; New Zealand that he would -regret leav- • ing, mid before ho, did go he wished to , take that opportunity of thanking; nub- ] licly Mr. Gore for all that had been 1 done for them. Mr.' Lowe endorsed all that had been , said by his colleague, and added that ho j had been very glad of the opportunity 5 of thanking the people of New Zealand s for nil that had been done to make the trip so thoroughly enjoyable. , Mr. M. E. Denniston proposed the ', toast of (he Parliament of Neiv Zen- - land, and made several appreciative references to the work of Sir William 1 Eraser, whom he thanked for being pre- ' sent to do honour to Messrs. Beamish and J JOWe ' .. , ,>, 1 ] Sir William Fraser said-he did not think that ho deserved any credit for ( what he had done; he had simply tried ( to do his duty, and no man ought to do less. Ho expressed the regret of the Prime Minister at not being present, and went on to say that he looked upon the support of athleticism as a national question in such an absolutely British community as the Dominion. t Messrs. Beamish and Lowe had given the people hero the chance of seeing the highest class of tennis, and personally he hoped it was only the first'" of many visits. It gave him the greatest pleasure ( to have the opportunity of doing ton- , our to Messrs. Beamish and Lowe. 1 Mr. F. P. Wilson, who proposed tho 1 toast of the New Zealand representative 1 players, said the play of the New Zea- , landers against tho two members of the 1 British Davis Cup team had been a sufficient reply to-the remarks of Mr. < Norman Brookes. Although not, having much chance of first-class practice both ( had shown themselves good, solid players, ] and, into tho bargain, good sports. Mr. Peacock, in particular, had been able to < get little real practice, but he had 1 proved that with it he would be m the ( first flight. . , ; Messrs. Peacock and Olhvscr expressed ( tho pleasure it had given thorn to meet and play with such excellent sportsmen as Messrs. Beamish and Lowe—men who < had shown them how to play the game. . The gathering also drank the healths j of tho members of the New Zealand Lawti Tennis Association, the Deputy- 1 Mavor, and of the president of the cssoj cintion. During the evening musical , items were given by Messrs. Norman Aitken, Frank Thomas, George Clap- ( ham and Martin Duff. . ■ I DAVIS CIFcOMPETITION j PROPOSED MODIFICATION OF REGULATIONS' (Rcc. March 28, 5.5 p.m.) ' London,' March 25. Tho International Lawn Tarinis Fed- ' eralion has rejected an American proposal for the inclusion of women in the Davis Cup competition. Britain lins , agreed to America's suggested modifications in the Davis Cup regulations, but the matter will be further coihhlivml at. the. Wimbledon meeting.—Aus.-N.Z-. Cable Assn.

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Hononga pūmau ki tēnei tūemi

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/DOM19200329.2.80

Bibliographic details
Ngā taipitopito pukapuka

Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 157, 29 March 1920, Page 6

Word count
Tapeke kupu
2,152

LAWN TENNIS Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 157, 29 March 1920, Page 6

LAWN TENNIS Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 157, 29 March 1920, Page 6

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