LAWN TENNIS

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 306, 22 June 1912, Page 7

LAWN TENNIS

FRANCE BEATS NEW ZEALAND. HOW GOBERT DEFEATED WILDING. London, May 1. The covered court championships at the Queen's Club this year provided some excellent tennis, and the attendance was larger than usual. The men's single championship resulted, as expected, in A. F. Wilding qualifying to challenge the holder—A. H. Gobert, the brilliant, if somewhat erratic, young French player. The final round score was: Wilding beat M. G. J. Ritchie, 6—3, 6—4. B—6. The challenge game was contested on Monday, and the score read: A. H Gobert (holder) beat A. F. Wilding. 3-6, 5-7, 6-4, 6-4. At one period Gobert had lost two sets and two games to love in the third set; at another he also had won two sets and four games to love in the fifth and final set. A few minutes later the scores were equal at two sets all and four games all, and then, almost before one could realise what had happened, Gobert was surrounded by a crowd of admirers all eager to congratulate the champion of another year. : WILDING'S STEADINESS. . Interest in the match was intense at the end of the second set. Gobert set- | tied down to good serious tennis, and strokes quietly made were brilliant in I their result. He made.full use of his height and volleyed across the court or down the line, always winning when the right opportunity presented itself. Wilding was steady; his pull-up'in the second set was a magnificent piece of play. He went for his shot with the same zest, never faltering once on the way. He punished Gobert's service in a manner that made it look quite ordinary. And again, in the final set, he was behind at four love, yet his steadiness never for a moment failed him. In the fifth game, to save Gobert getting to five love, Wilding returned Gobert's service every time, hard and clean, and with excellent length. ' The saving of that game looked like the \ saving of the match, because for three ' games after Gobert could do nothing .< right. He was weak off the ground, ;! and he served double faults. In fact, the serving of double..faults by Gobert right through the match was remarkable. He actually served as many as 23. After Wilding got to four all, Gobert recovered himself, and became his own brilliant self; and, forcing the pace, he won the last two games by a succession of brilliant, low volleys, well placed, which Wilding was only able to answer by driving on to Gobert's racquet at the net. GOBERT MASTERS THE SITUATION. The Times comments: —"Whether the better player won is probably a question that will be much discussed. In the first two sets Gobert was palpably nervous, and throughout the match he handicapped himself severely by making one, and not seldom two, double faults in each of his service games. Wilding, on the other hand, was no less obviously lack(ing in the almost indispensable virtue of determination. In the all-important third set, when possessed of an overwhelming lead, he allowed game after game to slip from his hands, and with each game seemed to go some of the power of stroke and judgment. Meanwhile Gobert, released from the slough of despond into which his own mistakes rather than his opponent's excellence had placed him, quickly regained his confidence. His general play improved enormously; his particular strokes—the stop-volley and the half-volley—dropped gently just over the net, were again brought into use successfully; and, most important of all, his strokes from the back of the court were made with the pace which must be combined with judgment an order to trouble a player of Wilding's calibre. "So it was that the crisis was reached which had been already described. Many good judges said, as Wilding began to creep up to the Frenchman in the last set, that if the latter should once be caught he would certainly be beaten, and in the light of what had previously occurred this seemed a reasonable view to take. But it was just the opposite that happened. Gobert was caught, but he was not beaten. On the contrary, he was master of the situation in the last two games, in which he showed perhaps the most brilliant play of a match that produced—although only occasionally—some extremely brilliant play. "One other question will doubtless also be discussed. Are Gobert's tactics the ■best possible against Wilding? Some critics certainly consider that the strokes to the 6ide-lines to' which Gobert practically confines himself offer a far better opening for Wilding's cross-drive than would a stroke down the centre line, which, requiring less care, might be hit with greater force." THE DOUBLES. The doubles challenge round resulted in a victory for Australasia. In the final round A. F. Wilding and S. N. Doust beat E. 0. Rockley and N. S. B. Kidson, *-5, 6—3, 6—2. The challenge round resulted: Wilding and Doust beat A. H. Gobert and M. J. G. Ritchie (holders), 6—l, 6—4, 10—12, 4-6, 6—2.