COURT DRESS

Wairarapa Times-Age, 31 May 1939, Page 3

COURT DRESS

OF LAWN TENNIS PLAYERS. • SEVERE CRITICISM. (By Telegraph—Press Association.) CHRISTCHURCH, May 30. Criticism of the court dress of lawn tennis players was made at the quarterly meeting of delegates to the Canterbury Lawn Tennis Association tonight. Players of both sexes came under the strictures of two or three of the delegates. They declared that khaki shorts, football jerseys, and grey slacks were making some of the men look like zebras. One described the dress of some of the women players at the New Zealand championships as “disgusting.”

“Are there any rules to make players conform to reasonable standards of dress on the courts?” asked Mr J. Left, who objected to the wearing of coloured shorts and jerseys and grey slacks.

“It is news to me that players are appearing on the courts in this kind of dress,” remarked the president, Mr R. Browning. Mr W. A. Clothier: One of our senior players regularly turns out in a singlet with no sleeves.

Mr G. C. Lezard suggested that the control of players’ dress on the association’s ground was a responsibility of the management committee. Most clubs had rules setting out the dress to be worn on club courts, said Mr G. L. Berry. At his club a player who failed to wear flannels was very soon “told about it.”

Mr Browning said he thought there was a rule on the subject, but Mr Left assured him that it was not set out in the association’s handbook.

“At the New Zealand championships we saw some ladies in shorts,” said Mr C. H. Franklin. “Some of them looked simply disgusting.” There was a good deal of laughter after Mr Franklin’s statement, and he went on to say that he did not intend his criticism to apply to all women who' wore' shorts. "The figures of some were suited to this kind of dress,” he added. (Further laughter). He thought there was plenty of room for improvement in the dress of lawn tennis players, and some consultation and co-operation between the Canterbury and New Zealand Associations might be useful. Steps should be taken to control the dress of both men and women players on the courts. “Any other comment?” asked the president. None was forthcoming.