FROM THE WATCH TOWER

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 859, 31 December 1929, Page 8

FROM THE WATCH TOWER

By

“THE LOOK-OUT MAN.”

THE DIARY Tlie gods of New Year blessings are Benevolent and kind to me. TheyYe given me a handy calendar And combination diary. Keceptacle of deeds and dates, Upon my desk—my guiding star And constant inspiration—there it waits, kly calendar, my calendar 1 I’ll write each day, upon the pad, Whatever thoughts occur to me. May be it will survive a week, this fad — My diary, my diary I * * STAMINA / A lot is heard about the stamina required of boxers, wrestlers, runners, footballers, and other people who conduct their contests in public, but after witnessing the protracted singles finals in the Auckland tennis championships at Stanley Street yesterday, it seems to us that some attention should be paid to the exacting requirements of competition tennis. The men’s singles final lasted over two hours, two hours in which not only speed, accuracy and physical endurance, hut also intense and unrelaxing mental concentration, were demanded of the duellists. Altogether, it is pretty well demonstrated that singles tennis is just about as strenuous a form of exercise as there is, particularly when a title is at stake and a match goes over four or five sets on a broiling afternoon. GADGETS Tennis players seem to be learning from motorists. Both non-skid devices for the shoes and anti-glare screens for the eyes, were employed in the recent tournament. If many more of these devices are patented, the old idea that the sole equipment of the tennis player was a racket and a set of tennis balls will have to he permanently shelved, and onlookers at tennis tournaments will look forward to the pleasing spectacle of players emerging clad in something approaching the panoply of ye knights of old. It was notable, however, that not everyone favoured these aids. Among those who disregarded the prevailing eye-shade mode was the accomplished Mr. Bartleet, who not only played as if the sun simply did not exist, but also went through his arduous singles final without nibbling a lemon, sipping bovril, or quaffing tea, beer or plain water, as favoured by most of the other gladiators at different times. CALVES, Another interesting point about the tennis tournament was the definite evidence it supplied that, convention or no convention, Auckland tennis girls are hot going to he bothered with stockings and their attendant “fixings.” A close observer claims that at least 50 per cent, of the women players wore no etockings. The pulchritude of not a fdw is alleged to have suffered as a result. There are legs that look blameless when not encased by silk, and others that are improved by an outer casing of elegant texture. Comfort and not appearance, however, is the first aim of the modern tennis girl. Whether the result is beneficial to the standard of tennis may he doubted when it is recalled that neither of the finalists in the women’s singles was a subscriber to the latest fashion. The Auckland Tennis Association had of course imposed no idle restrictions on this phase of feminine tennis costume. Even if there may be some stern moralists on the association, they no doubt realise the utter futility of endeavouring to stem a trend of fashion. ON THE EMDEN Mutinies will happen, even In the best regulated navies. Even so it seems improbable that the insubordination stated to have occurred on the Emden was on the scale chronicled by German Communist newspapers. The Emden when in Auckland seemed a fairly contented ship. Her crew were picked men, in addition to the large number of cadets, chosen, to a great extent, from Germany’s best families. The trouble may have been that there were two political factions on the Emden. There were the monarchists, who even among the officeas regarded with distaste the republican flag flying at the stern. Questioned on that subject, they indicated very plainly that it was a thing they did not care to talk about. But discipline on the Emden was iron bound. Captain Lothar von Arnauld was not a man to let his crew get out of hand. It would have been far less surprising to learn of a mutiny among the curious motley who manned the French cruiser Tourville.