Half-Volleys

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 310, 22 March 1928, Page 7

Half-Volleys

* s sending the strongest tho W„'a a ° , ful ' the match against the Waikato Association at Harail;?2- , /V 1 tllc men selected arc on the ladder, but there are some notable absentees. The women represent the city's best, headed by Miss Marjorie Macfarlane. There has been some alteration in the Auckland team as first announced. N. Sturt has been included and C. C. Chalmers dropped, while V. IT. Johns is now the captain. As Auckland's champion, Knott lias pride of place, and there will be considerable interest in his meeting with ID. Laurenson, who was runner-up in the provincial event. Tho final of the C grade inter-club games will be replayed on Saturday Aratonga’s protest having been upheld by the Auckland L.T.A. The grounds of tho protest were that Papatoetoe was not ready to start at the appointed time, and also that tho team was not played in the order handed into the secretary of the L.T.A. Papatoetoe won by 6 matches to 4. Matches won in two or three love sets are not at all unusual. But fivesetters which include three love sets are quite a different matter. Here is an example, however: Johnston bea* Lacoste, 6 —o, 6—4, o—6, G—o, in a 1927 Davis Cup match at Germantown. Cochet did net quite equal this, but he came close to it last winter on the Riviera, when he beat Borotra at I—6, 6—l, 6—o, I—6, 6—o. Hamilton enthusiasts will be treated to some sparkling tennis if Knott can reproduce his championship form. Last year in the Auckland v. Waikato match, Knott was dispatched witli some ease by Sloan Morpeth, but it was a different Knott. All things considered, including the strength of the Auckland women, there should be a good margin of matches in favour of the visitors. Fortune and the blessings of those who compose the lawn tennis world await the inventor of a ball that will retain its whiteness during play. Or, to get nearer to the kernel of the matter, to the inventor of a court that will not soil the cover of the ball. This last is much the more likely of the two “revolutions” to come about, and there is no reason whatever to despair of something of the kind eventuating within a reasonable number of years.—“ American Lawn Tennis.” Resenting the charge of “exclusiveness,” the committee of the Varsity Club made an explanation to “Deuce” on Saturday. Two members stated that the decision to limit the entries in the singles championship to 16 was brought about mainly bv the pressure of time. The college season was, by necessity, a short one, and the result was that, when everyone entered for the event, it dragged over until the next season. The committee considered further that it knew the capabilities of the players. _____