LAWN TENNIS

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 83, Issue 44, 22 February 1939, Page 5

LAWN TENNIS

PHYSICAL FITNESS A NECESSARY PART OF TENNIS (By A. N. Campbell.) We are at present in the throes of Physical Fitness Week, the idea of which is to inculcate in the minds of everyone the desire to maintain physical fitness and to enjoy some kind of cutdoor sport. Locally this week is being celebrated by a mass procession on Thursday night to Cook’s Gardens where various tableaux of physical exercises and sports will be shown, but in these notes it will be show how important it is to tennis players, especially those who undertake tournament tennis, to be really physically fit. Training is necessary for any sport, whether the player is good, bad or indifferent. Not only does it allow the competitor to last longer but it makes stroking less laborious and the eye keener. An unfit tennis player can suffer sprains and strained muscles very easily if he or she is not fit, so get into training now all of you and carry on the ideals of Physical Fitness Week.

The Wanganui Club championships point to being a second residential title fixture as far as the men are concerned. The only absentees are Foote, Foster, Mailman and Pidwell (Caius), Hoskin, Connett and Adamson (St. John’s), otherwise the field Is the same. Present results show that Udy, Hay Campbell, Tippins and Fenwick should be the semi-iinalists as in the residential championships. During the last week Ken. McFarlane eliminated J. Finlayson, C. Fenwick defeated D. W. Earle and M. L. Lampe, Hay Campbell beat T. Latham.

A surprise was caused in the men’s doubles when M. L. Lampe and F. C. Hutchison were defeated by D. G. O'Toole and W. Roberts. The losers certainly played badly, but O'Toole and Roberts took advantage of their every lapse and allowed no quarter.

Owing to the absence of the W.L.T.A. sole selector, Mr. D. G. O'Toole, I have not been able to obtain many results of recent ranking matches, but in the most important ones M. L, Lampe defeated C. Fenwick in straight sets, Miss Margaret Purcell accounted for Miss J. Lamont, Miss E. Low for Miss O. Glover and Miss Joan Coull for Miss 1. Glover, all in straight sets. With so little of the season left it behoves all players to play their club matches as soon as possible and ranking matches are excellent Io players in trim.

Most- grass courts in the city are in very bad repair due principally to the lack of rain and the drying winds in January that raised tne dust and made baselines resemble rutted roadways. Grass courts should be spelled and watered frequently, but it is not always possible to do this and clover seems to thrive at the expense of the grass. At the Wanganui Club clover is being killed by manuring and it has certainly been eradicated where j treated, but the burnt dead clover and browned grass gives a yellow appearance to the courts and the ball is hard to follow in play. The Wanganui East courts are the best off owing to the fact that they can be spelled, an 1 are said to be in better order than dver before. Improved form by Ken McFarlane recently resulted in a good win against J. Finlayson in the Wanganui Club championships. McFarlane’s style is very easy and a few years ago when at his best he was a very hard man to beat. He more or less retired from the game the past two seasons due to a baa leg, but this season he has shown that the injury was not so bad as anticipated. If McFarlane settled down to the game even more he would be still very hard to defeat, but he is not able to move about with the same freedom of old, as his bad log is apt to break down without, warning. This Saturday will sec the annual match between Taranaki and Wanganui played al. Hawera, while on the following day the B teams of both associations meet at Wanganui. The time has come, I think, for . the Wanganui Association to challenge for the Wilding Shield. Certainly a team of four men from Wanganui would be beaten in the first matches, but. Waikato should be looked upon as an example. In challenging Auckland and Canterbury, the holders, Waikato lost badly. This year the standard, having risen, it took two matches from Auckland and all others went to three sets. The players were the same and as a result of meeting better class their own game improved, until now Waikato are potential holders of the shield in a season or two.

Each year Wanganui plays Taranaki and possibly Manawatu, Wairarapa and Hawke’s Bay, players meeting each other regularly year after year. The games are enjoyable, but players oppose each other so often that it becomes monotonous. Why not challenge Wellington and Waikato for a change and meet new blood? The public would be attracted and our players would get better and more varied play.

We have a very weak ladies’ team at present, so why not a challenge match between men’s and ladies’ teams, with the view to improving their standard. Each Saturday can be seen the same old ladies’ singles and doubles played any old how. If some of the weaker sex were opposed to Hay Campbell, Udy, Lampe and others and they played full out, it might impress upon members of the ladies’ team how futile their game really was and would spur them on to better things. This is only a suggestion, but it could be tried quite successfully, I feel sure.