NEW ZEALAND AT LAWN TENNIS.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXX, Issue 8504, 9 August 1907, Page 3

NEW ZEALAND AT LAWN TENNIS.

(From Our London Correspondent.) LONDON, June 26th. I am indebted to a contemporary for the following:—lt was a thousand pities that the opening of the Championship meeting at Wimbledon yesterday . (24th) should have been associated with wretched weather conditions. Not only did the wind hamper the players, but heavy rain fell during the progress of the match between A. F. Wilding and Beals Wright, upon which so much depended. Wilding's recent form, and especially that shown against Ritchie at Queen's Club on Saturday, had led to expectations of a close match, but few that the New Zealander would win by three straight sets, and thus avenge the defeat he sustained in the International of 1905. Wilding has never been seen to , better advantage at Wimbledon. In the pink of condition, he was not in the least disturbed by the elements, and seldom has he infused more variety into "his game or greater accuracy. Of Beals Wright it ought to be said that he has primarily come over for the "Davis" Cup matches, , and seeing that he only arrived in London on Thursday night, it was hardly to be expected that he would be in his best fighting trim for the championships. His game was prettier than Wilding's, and many of his cross-volleys were magnificent; but the New Zealander was the more severe and the safer; When the conditions are taken into consideration, the play all round was remakably good. Wright won the opening game and Wilding the next two, it then being 2 all before the Colonial won against the service, and followed this up by securing the first set by 6—2 before Wright had really Battled down. In the second set, when the rain ceased for awhile, and Wright was steadier on his feet, the match was splendidly coontested. It was "two ali," "three all," "four all," "five all," and "six all," before the crucial point was reached, Wright then losing his service game and subsequently the set at 6—B, the last being a love game. The third was also a vantage set, and again the issue was in doubt until Wright appeared to have had enough of the pouring rain towards the finish. The American began well enough by winning the first two games. Wilding made it two all, and the games then regularly went with the service until five all, when Wilding won against the service, and in the next game ran out at 7 —5, with a notable victory to his credit. Perhaps the most striking feature ■of yesterday's (25th) match —a match which, barring accidents, has almost decided the championship already—was the novelty of the play. Mr W. Eenshaw at his best, twenty odd years ago, might, for all we can tell, have bean a better player than is Mr Brookes to-day. But if he had walked into the centre court yesterday afternoon and taken Mr Wilding's place, it is quite certain that for the first few games he would have been bewildered at the strange tactics and the unknown shots. There are no English players whose game is of the same kind as that of the Australasian pair. Almost every player spends his time trying to ■evade positions which Mr Brookes •seeks. He will place some of his best balls from volleys right on the ground and close to the net. He will for a high volley to his back hand, and return it, not in the fashion of a difficult hook stroke, but as a icomfortable smash. No one in the world can rival his close-up volley play, yet he very rarely seems to hit hard in the sense that Mr Riseley, for instance, hits hard at the net. Everything is done by perfect tactics and superb placing. Mr Wilding made the-match close, but this was by the pace of his game. If he attempted to take his position by a •aeries of slow shots, he was invarisabl beaten by the deceptive accuracy of the Australian. In the first set Mr Wilding took three games before Mr Brookes had fairly settled down; keeping his lead steadily " he won the set at 6 4. Throughout the match his play was admirable, he has never done better. In this set particularly the pace of liis shots was remarkable. Almost every drive has top spin, and came off the ground faster and lower than it landed. The trouble for him for the rest of the match was that Mr Brookes so seldom allowed these drives to touch the ground at all. In the second set Mr Brookes seemed to stand over and dominate the net; with the first four games to his credit to love he ran out at 6 —2. It was curious that the two 6—2 sets of the match, the second and fourth, took the longest time to play. They occupied eighteen and fifteen minutes respectively, while the others took fifteen, thirteen and fourteen. Sets., of course, can be played quicker than this. Last year, one of those in the match in which Mr H. L. Doherty beat Mr R. D. Little occupied only ►eight minutes. But fifteen minutes is a short time for eight, nine or ten games when, as yesterday, the rallies were long and the game runs close. It was taken in both sides at a great rate. Towards the end of the third set Mr Wilding seemed to lose in accuracy. He tried to lob—and well might have tried more often—but he lobbed out. But soon after the beginning of the fourth he came on with a really splendid effort. Taking Mr Brookes' second and fourth services, and losing none of his own, he won the set at 6—2, and made the score two sets all. Throughout, the service on both sides was wonderful. There was but one double fault, by Mr Wilding, and again and again each beat the other completely. Except Mr Risely no player can touch these two for effectiveness of service. Each can make the ball break all over the court without losing pace, and Mr Brookes could drop his service, one imagines, on a sixpence. When one remembers that each served twentytwo times, and that Mr Brookes' second delivery is as fast as and often more cleverly placed than his first, one notices the fact that he never .served two faults through the match.

Contrast this with the five or six often dropped even bj such a player as Mr H. L. Doherty, to say nothing of Mr S. H. Smith, and the advantages of consistency and temperament become apparent. For if you are going to make a double fault at all, it is quite certain that you will make it in the critical moment of the match. Of ths twenty-two service games on each side Mr Brookes lost only four, and Mr Wilding only six for the afternoon. And the moral of that is, that if a suggested alteration in the rules sightly hampers the server it will not damage the game. In the last set with the score at 3 —2 against him, Mr Wilding lost his service, and with it his chance of I game, set, match and championship. ! In the next game he came within a | stroke of taking his opponent's, and recovering, but Mr Brookes was very sieady, and took the set and match at 6 —3. Neither player has ever j showed to greater advantage. By losing so gamely Mr Wilding has increased, not diminished, his reputation ; while Mr Brookes has supplied J a revelation in the possibilities >af j net play. Both were in perfect con- j dition, and looked ready at the end to begin again. .