LAWN TENNIS;

Taranaki Daily News, 14 January 1921, Page 3

LAWN TENNIS;

AMERICANS IN AUSTRALIA. DOUBLES CHAMPIONS BEATEN. By Telegraph.—Press Assn.—Copyright Received Jan. p.m. Melbourne, Jan. 13. The weather was dull after rain and the court was good for the tennis matches against the Americans. There was a large attendance, Tilden beat Hawkes 6—3, 6—3. The experience of Tilden told largely against his. younger opponent, the backhand long drives of Tilden keeping Hawkes on the bas 4 line, while the vollejy service of % the American was too severe. The accuracy of Tilden’s placing on the half court lines kept Hawkes busy. .In the second set Hawkes failed to score until the sixth game and followed Jjy winning the next two. Washburn beat 7—s, 6—3. Both players gave excellent exhibitions of backhand and forehand driving. Washburn displayed strategy and introduced much force into his service strokes. Patterson vdlleyed well, gaining much advantage. Brookes and O’Hara Wood beat Tilden and Johnston 6—4, 7—5, 6—3. The generalship of Bfookes, with the assistance of his capable partner, caused the Americans to get rattled in each set. Johnston was not playing up to form, while Tilden misplaced many long drives. Tilden’s volley service was extra strong, repeatedly beating Brookes.—Aus.-N.Z. Cable Assn.

It is not often that a good athlete is a good writer, but in “The Art of Lawn Tennis” (London: Methuen and Co.), Mr. W. T. Tilden talks of the game almost as breezily as he plays it. “Do not think that tennis is merely a physical exercise,” says the world’s champion. “It is an .intellectual cocktail of a very high “kick.” Mr. Tilden commences by discussing the finer points of the game, and then goes on to describe its finer players. The novice will find valuable advice in the chapters on technique, the explanation of position on the court being admirably lucid. The enthusiast will find entertaining reading in some candid comment on players of the day. Mr. Tilden is evidently a thorough sportsman, and gives a generous appreciation of those players who have opposed him in international matches. He looks on Norman Brbokes with a kind of reverence, describing him as “the greatest player and genius of all time He is a master that I, as a student of the game, feel proud to study under.” An interesting chapter on “Tennis Psychology” counsels the young player to study the mind as well as the methods of his opponent. “The stolid, easy-going man, who usually advocates the baseline game, usually does so because he hate? to stir up his torpid mind to think oitt a' safe way of reaching the net.” There are some excellent instantaneous photographs of Tilden and others in action, showing the right and the wrong way of playing the different shots that ought to be in a champion’s lockeri