LAWN TENNIS.

Dominion, Volume 20, Issue 63, 8 December 1926, Page 8

LAWN TENNIS.

(By

“Forehand.”)

Inter-Club Matches. The first round of the senior grade inter-club matches were played last Saturday on the association courts at Miramar under ideal conditions. Eight courts were made available (at times there were more than eight being used) and each pair of contesting teams were allotted two courts, and the captains of the respective clubs were made responsible for the getting off of their teams matches on those courts. Considering its first trial the scheme worked well, although there were a few delays in taking the courts due to the fact that the club team captains were not always inclined to direct operations. Some apparently failed to realise the fact that they were made complete entities and on them rested the responsibility for the playing of their matches and the giving to the association secretary, who was in attendance, the results of each match as it was played. Club captains must understand that clear duties devolve on them to help the association if they would make the inter-club matches a success. First, on arrival at the grounds they must inform the association secretary of the names of the members of .heir team, and the order in which they are to play. Then when they have been allotted their two courts they must understand that they must see to it that the matches are got off with all expedition. The Association committee takes no further notice of them. It leaves them to work out their own galvation. If the club captains do not carry out their duties in this respect, all the proceedings are held up. Great credit is due to the Association secretary, Mr. C. W. Cobby, for the way in which he attended to the recording of the scores and bis readiness to give information on whatsoever questions were put to him. If the result of Saturday’s matches prove auytliing it is that there are not more than four senior clubs in Wellington. There were players playing senior grade who were quite junior grade, and some who were distinctly third grade. By a senior player, I mean one who could make a creditable showing in a provincial championship. Not. necessarily to win it or even get to lhe semi-finals, but to show that they would not be as hopelessly outclassed as some of them were on Saturday. Nor do I mean that the showing must be against such top-notch players as L. and D. France, E. B. W. Smyth, N. R. C. Wilson, or C. Malfroy. I exclude them for purposes of comparison, because they aie far above the average of provincial standard. I hey are— Malfroy being yet problematical in this respect—up to national standard. The value ot these inter-club matches will depend upon their intensity. Therefore the association should take steps to declare what clubs are senior clubs, and not allow any club to enter a senior grade team out of an impetuous sense of flattery to such of its members who may be playing in such “senior” team. Let us take clubs A and B. The champion players of the respective clubs may, for handicap purposes, be on owe 10 in a5O points up game. A stranger would be pardoned for thinking that the merits of the two players are approximate! v equal. It may be no such thing'. The A player may be a national representative player, while the B player, if he belonged to the. A club, might conceivably be a third grade player in comparison. Yet the two meet on an even footing in the senior grade inter-club matches. But to carrv the matter a step further. If B’s senior team comparative to A’s senior team is only third grade, what must be the relation of B’s third team to A’s third team? It must be obvious that such a state of affairs of allowing primers to compete with standards must result in a lowering of the standard of tennis, and not the heightening of it. These remarks are offered in no unkind spirit, but with a sincere desire to help. In my judgment the only clubs at present entitled to rank as senior clubs are Brougham Hill, Miramar Grounds, Thorndon, and Newtown. Nor do all these clubs contain all plavers whom I would classify as senior while one or other of the clubs contain, perhaps, a senior lady or a senior man, and the. remainder of the plavers junior, or third The hope of Brougham Hill s men rests with the France brothers. DDobie and T Ward would be accounted for bv senior players of other clubs, although Dobie is capable of making a hard struggle for it. His match with O. K. Stevens, a Brougham . Hill Club player, who has thrown in his lot with the Miramar Grounds Club, was an exhibition of good, hard hitting, and concentration on the matter tn hand. Ward was fortunate in meeting an opponent whose play he knew well, and whose standard is far from senior grade. The Brougham Hill ladies ladv for lady, are the strongest of any club in Wellington. Miramar Grounds Club team is somewhat uneven Like Brougham Hill it contains two men who are of national standard, namelv, E. B. W. Smyth and N R C Wilson. And here it is worthy of remark that Wilson is . still a Brougham Hill player who, for the purposes of the inter-club matches, has thrown in his lot with the Miramar Grounds Club, and Smyth, up to this season, was for-many years a member of Brougham Hill. O. K. Stevens is ■ much better in practice games than in matches, in which he seems to have an attack of nerves. In practice games he volleys and smashes and serves brilliantly. His weakness, strange to say, is liis forehand. Although up to senior standard in practice games,, he is somewhat below it in . serious matches. G. Penlington, Miramar’s fourth matt, is not an "A” grade plaver. Among the Miramar Club ladies, Mesdames Campbell, Heald, and Penlington, although well below Brougham Hill’s first three ladies, are, I think, entitled to senior grading. Mrs. Brown would tie easily a senior (layer if the matches were only of one set Again it is worthv of remark that Mesdames Brown and Penlington are Brougham Hill Club nlavers and Mesdames Campbell and Heald are Lvall Bav Club players. Mrs. Penlington should have been played at least third 'adv for Miramar, and might possibly have filled No. 1 position. Thorndon’s team of men are undoubtedly’ senior players, Mayo’s defeat bv Scott, of the Victoria College' team, notwithstanding. Dr. Park I expected to be beaten bv R I'erkins, because he has had verv little practice, especially on hard courts It was a pity that C Malfrov did not consider himself in sufficient form to play No. 1 for Thorndon, as a match between Malfrov and Fjrkins, who has great! v improved this season, would have been a most interesting one. Ferkins is hitting both hard and accurately The Victoria College ladv nlavers are weak as seniors, and the Thorndon ladies may be said to be inst edging on to senior rank and no more

As an indication of the manner in which the inter-club matches are dividing the clubs, it mav be mentioned that N.’ A. Roden and ‘Scott are Thnrndon Club nlavers, and Verkins is a Brougham Hill Club nlaver. Anart from T Rhodes Williams tbe Welli’mton Club would have dhfimdlv in fielding a really senior grade pinver. although there are otlieis who mirb*

jus- be edging out of the junior grade. The Wellington Club’s ladies' team, is not, in m\ judgment, above junior grade, whatever grade in the past some of its members may have been. . Walter Hollings was absent from the Newtown Club through ill-health. He, with his brother, W. P. Hollings, W. G. Morgan, and Richardson would represent a (rood senior team. Misses East and Brady are the only ladies who are really entitled to senior grade. Mrs. Marshall is the only one among the Lvall Bay Club team, men or ladies. who, I think, ought to be playing senior grade tennis. . While Wellington and Victoria College, because of their lack of balance, should not, in my judgment, be allowed to enter senior teams except after the most careful consideration. Petone and Lyall Bay should not be permitted to play senior at all. It seems to me, therefore, that the association might have been better advised to have run junior and third grades in preference to senior and third grades, and have determined the grading of clubs even before the grading of players. Two alternatives would then have been open to the association. To have limited the senior grade to the four clear senior clubs or to have held no senior grade competition, but in its place this year to have made a senior ladder on which only those players who were really senior players could be placed to the number, perhaps, of ten, and allow them to get a much more intense form of match play than ever they will get in plaving “rabbits” (comparatively speaking), in the present unsatisfactory form of the inter-club matches. The senior grade inter-club matches last Saturday have shown quite clearly how uneven is the distribution of good plavers in the clubs in and around Wellington. Interest can only be maintained by equality, not by inequality, and there is nothing more likelv to kill interest as glaring inequalities in standards, of play that are represented as being of equal grades. The strength of a chain is determined by its weakest link. The interest in the inter-club matches will depend on the showing of the weakest teams. No one will journey far to see wholesale slaughter. It is problematical whether the real senior players will meet again in the inter-chib matches this season. Incidents of Play.

The outstanding matches at Miramar last Saturday during the inter-club matches were the singles L. France v. E. B. W. Smyth, D. France v. N. R. C. Wilson, and the doubles France brothers v. Smyth and Wilson. The L. France-Smyth match, which went to three sets, and occupied about an hour and a half, showed Smyth to be carrying too much condition. France’s tactics in the first set were obviously to tire Smyth. To this end France did not go for winners, but merely put over moderately well placed sliots, essaying to keep the rally going as long as possible, and Smyth moving. For that first set Smyth moved fairly briskly, and, not at all worried by the fast pace at which the ball was whipping off the ground, he drove hard straight down the side lines or across court with scarce a falter. More often it was France who was doing the hardest running, and very frequently he was forced to put up lobs to give himself time to get back into position. Short lobs, and there were many such, were put away bv Smyth with scant ceremony. For the first half of the second set the same procedure was adopted by both, except that as the game advanced Smyth was obviously weakening, and France strengthening. Even then Smvth seemed well on the way to a straight set victory ' until, with every prospect of gaining a 5-2 lead, double faults and netting volleys lost him his chance. Then it was that France made his onslaught. Chopping hard to the sidelines and keeping Smyth moving heavily across bourt until, through physical exhaustion, that player missed with monotonous regularitv shots that earlier in the match he put awav for clean winners, France took a decided command. In the third set Smvth, comparatively speaking, merely lumbered over' the court pushing at the ball rather than hitting it. Never was the D France-Wilson match in doubt. France had the command by virtue of a far greater steadiness than Wilson, and a greater versatility. Standing close in on France’s heavilv cut service, and playing the rising ball, Wilson found the net low down on 'return of service all too frequently. Also he was compelled, as he came in on his own service, which was functioning well, to play France’s severe drives frequently at his feet. No plaver can do that consistently against D. France and hope to win. Wilson was often beaten also by good lobs. Some, however, Wilson got his racket on to and treated them without mercy. D. France was playing coolly and right on the top of his form. The doubles between the France Brothers and Wilson and Smyth had many spectacular incidents in it, and had hot Smvth left Wilson to chase lobs that were his the result might have been different The Frances played closer to the net than usual, so that their volleying profited. Some of their lobs were short, and were incontinently killed, but more often than not they upset the opposing combination D France was hitting hardest of the four, interspersing his drives with judicious lobs which, even when they went out over the back line, helped to tire the opponents who ran back for them. Many points were earned on both sides by deep drives down mid-court, while Wilson frequently s<jnt some beauties cross-court to D. France’s backhand. The Smvth-Wilson combination lost much of its accuracy and punch overhead as the match progressed. In the second set, however, thev made no race of it. Thev literal!v rushed through their opponents, who seemed to be forced absolutely on the defensive. R. Ferkins completely outplayed Dr. Park in a hard driving game. Park was most inaccurate as to service, ground strokes, and overhead. What shots he did get in-court carried plenty of sting with them. C. Malfrov, who played second for Thorndon when he would have made a better No. 1, and thus pit' himself against Ferkins, was too good for N. A. Foden, who went down in straight sets, not, however, without making a good fight for it. Wheeler (Thorndon) was too steady for Burn (Victoria College), who is a powerful, if inaccurate, hitter. An interesting feature of a doubles match between Ward and Dobie against Penlington and O. K. Stevens was the fact that tile former pair were 5—2 and 40 love in the third set when Ward missed a sitter, and the latter pair picked up and ultimately won B—6, thus taking the match. Mrs. Marshall (Lvall Bay) drove Miss M. East (Newtown) to the limit before the latter edged out at B—6 in the third set. It was a match of level pegging nearlv all the way. Miss' Tracv, with deep drives to either side line and coming to the net to vollev or kill the return, gave Mrs Campbell (Miramar) no chance. Miss Anita Howe’s deep drives to the corners, esnecinllv to Mrs Heald s backhand, and carrying with them plenty of pace, gave the latter no op-

portunity to act otherwise than on the defensive. She was completely - outP Miss North accounted for Mrs. Brown with ease, her shots whipping off the court and giving Mrs. Brown no end of trouble on her backhand. Tlie match between Mrs. Penlington and Miss Williams was a long one. Miss Williams, when she pulled up from d own I_s to 5 all in the second set after having won the first set,, seemed as though she would win the match in straight' sets. But losing the eleventh game meant the playing of a third set with darkness coming down fast. Mrs. Penlington thereupon threw caution to the winds, and, playing her usual aggressive net game and hitting hard to force Miss Williams on the defensive won the match after an hour and‘a half’s play, taking the third set

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