LAWN TENNIS

Evening Post, Volume CXXVI, Issue 134, 3 December 1938, Page 13

LAWN TENNIS

CANTERBURY SUGGESTION

A suggestion that a team of Wellington representative players should be sent to . Christchurch to play the Canterbury representatives early in February was contained in a letter from the Canterbury Lawn Tennis Association received at a meeting of the Wellington Lawn Tennis Association yesterday. The team would consist of six men and six woman, and in consideration of the visit the Canterbury Association would play a return match in Wellington in the following year. It was' hoped, the letter said, that matches of this kind between the two associations could be reinstated as annual fixtures. Mr. R. P. Cooper said that he would like Wellington teams to travel to play representative matches, but he thought that the association's policy of restricting finance should remain the same. Mr. R. McL. Ferkins said that it was a pity to discard the opportunity of visiting another centre to play a representative match, and he thought that arrangements might be made to send players away. He said four representative matches had already been turned down, and these matches would have catered for lower players in the ranking list. It was decided to ask the Canterbury Association for more .details on the matter. Mr. Cooper raised the question of players in inter-club matches using courts before their matches commenced. He did not wish to stop teams starting early, but he wanted to stop individual play before matches. It had been reported to him that some players went on to the courts and played several sets before beginning their inter-club matches. He did not want ,the courts to be open for inter-, club play, before '1.15 p.m. except in the case of two teams who for certain reasons wished to finish early, and who had the consent of the inter-club committee.

Mr. A. C. W. Mantell-Harding said that if teams were allowed to start earlier than 1.15 p.m. they would obtain an advantage over teams that started later, as they would finish their inter-club games earlier, and would have longer use of the courts for individual play.

Mr. L. H. Pollock said that he did not know that sets were being played before inter-club fixtures. He understood that the players just had a "knock-up."

A motion that courts should not be open to inter-clubi players before 1.15 p.m. oh Saturdays, except in the case of two teams who had, with the consent of the inter-club committee, mutually agreed to start early, was lost. . '• ■

' Permission was granted to the Hutt Valley Lawn Tennis Sub-Association to play a match with a team- from the Manawatu Lawn Tennis Association on Sunday. The match would be played on the Lower Hutt Club's courts.