LAWN TENNIS

Evening Star, Issue 22459, 2 October 1936, Page 4

LAWN TENNIS

[By Recorder.]

The majority of the Dunedin clubs will be holding their official openings to-morrow afternoon. Several clubs have already opened, and those set down for to-morrow are University, Otago, Moana, Roslyn, St. Clair, Anderson’s Bay, Port Chalmers, St. Patrick’s, St. Peter’s, Nga Maara, Kaituna, Waimana, Opoho, Roslyn, and Taieri The interclub matches are due to start on' Saturday week, October 10, and once again the Competitions Committee is faced with the formidable task of sorting teams in the various grades. The entries received from clubs for the various grades arc as follow; —A grade ladies, seven teams; A grade men, nine teams; intermediate, 14 teams; B 1 grade, 12 teams; B 2 grade, 13 teams; C l grade, 11 teams; C 2 grade, five teams. It will be necessary, therefore, for the committee to adjust the members of teams in tho various grades so as to give a more equitable distribution over all grades. As was anticipated, Moana and St. Kilda have not entered A grade men’s teams, while St. Clair’s entry into A grade men’s was accepted by the association at tho meeting last Tuesday. University made application for two men’s A grade teams, hut only one team was accepted. If nominations of players of a sufficiently promising standard are received, a colts’ team will also be playing in the A grade. The association passed a recommendation at its meeting that, if possible, the Competitions Committee should allow all matches (both men’s and ladies’) in the intermediate grade being tho best of 17 games. The date for the M'Millan Cup Yankee tournament has been fixed for November 21, and it will be run in three sections on the same lines as last year’s tournament. New Zealand Championships. The Now Zealand ’championships are definitely to be held in Timaru from December 30 to January 5, both dates inclusive. The secretary of the New Zealand Association reported to the last meeting of the Management Committee that, after visiting Timaru, he was satisfied that the courts and facilities available for players and public .were adequate. In connection with these championships, a matter of interest to local players is the motion of a Wellington delegate to restrict entries in the New Zealand championships. This motion will be considered at tho next quarterly meeting of the council._ The proposed restriction is that entries in New Zealand championship events shall he limited to: Men’s singles, 32; ladies’ singles, 16; men’s doubles, 16; ladies’ doubles, 16; mixed doubles, 16. If this motion is carried it will make the championships very exclusive, and is likely to cut out some promising players who would benefit considerably from tho experienced gained in playing in the championship. This is a matter tho local association should strongly oppose, as it would most probably exclude any local players from the tournament. The following motion was passed at the annual meeting of the New Zealand Association:—“That all entries from New Zealand players for the New Zealand lawn tennis championships be made by the association of which the competitor is a member, subject to the right of any excluded player to appeal to the Management Committee of the New Zealand Association.” The effect of this regulation will be that all local players who intend playing in the championships at Timaru will he required to forward their entries through the local association. Hints to Beginners. Henri Cochet. in his recent book on tennis, gives some useful hints to beginners. “If you have never played tennis, ray first advice is to go and see tennis matches, nml_ plenty of them,” writes Cochet. “ Notice the positions of the players, try to understand their individual tactics, and, when yon can appreciate what is correct and why it is so, then try to do the same. It is not enough to know what yon ought to do; you must also know what you must not do. “ Before you start to play make yourself familiar with your racket ami the ball, for if you have to think how to hold your racket, and, even more, where and when your ball will rebound, you are the loser before the game has begun. “ Get accustomed to the game before you start to play it. Throwing a child into the water to teach him to swim is not the best method; lie only becomes frightened. Give him time to get used to tho water without running any risk, and all you will have to do is to teach him tho correct strokes. “How to get used to the ball? Do as I did. Every day, for a few minutes only, hit up against a wall. You will find in the beginning some difficulty in making your ball liit an exact spot on the wall, and even more difficult in deciding whore to stand when the ball returns. You are bound to be either too near or too far away. But do not despair, as you will soon find yourself able to place and return the ball. Your eyes, as well as your muscular reflexes, become used to the rhythm of the ball; then, and only then, go to a good teacher, and you will soon learn how to play the different strokes.”-