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LAWN TENNIS.
(Notes by 'Fifall.')
Entries for the Slazenger Cup competi
tion establish a new record with 16 boys'
teams and eight of girls. The previous
best was attained in 1921. when th»
fisrures were nine and eight respectively.
The competition opened with eight
matches on Saturday. There will be four
matches next Saturday, including the
semi-finals of the girls' division. On Sat
urday. 20th inst., only the semi-finals of
the boys' division will be played, and on
Saturday. 27th inst.. because of the
schools' general sports, there will be no
pkiy at all. The final in each division
will bo staged on Saturday. November 3.
A curious situation, unlikely to arise
in any but a competition embracing both
school teams and club teams, is re
vealed by a. comparison of this year's
Slazenger players with those of 1922.
Last year Miss Andrews was captain of
the Presbyterian Ladies' College team,
and Miss McMeikan captained that of
the Methodist Ladies' College. This year
both girls are members of the University
team, and so may bt called upon to
play against their, old school teams. Last
year, it may be recalled, P.L.C. defeated
M.L.C., in the semi-final, Miss-Andrews in
her single accounting for Miss McMeikan
6-2.
. The .despair of. the Slauenfer Cup
committee is the penalising of the foot
faulter. Eight matches had to be han
dled on- Saturday, and in the absence of
an umpire's association in Perth the um
piring consisted largely of mere' scoring.
There were in the umpires' chairs— in
point of fact the chairs were left in the
shed, and the court officials, perforce,
stood at the net posts — estimable young
ladies who wouW be loth to reprove even
'the worm i' the grad.' and young men
desirous only of getting through the
match in hand without any suggestion of
the untoward. Time was when the rule
(No. 16* that each competing team shall
furnish linesmen for each match contest
ed by that team, was strictly enforced
The committee -mar have had sufficient
reason for relaxing that rule this year.
But only by appointing well informed
officials to the care of the baselines can
it 6e hoped to check, at the best time of
an for checking it, the unlovely trick of
footfaulting. Officer, on Saturday, was
fo'o'tfaulting consistently, and in most
flagrant moaner. Officer mis not alone
in this, but he is specifically mentioned
for- two reasons: (1) Because his was
the most effective -service seen on the
courts on Satuday, which makes it the
greater pity that, all unconsciously, he
should be breaking the rule and so ex
posing himself to possibly fatal embar
rassment in an important match- with a
capable umpire in the chair. (2) His
team having been defeated on Saturday,
Officer -cannot, in the current competi
tion, be singled! out for drastic, correction
by some over-zealous official anxious to
repair last Saturday's omission. Officer,
both on the first and on the second ser
vice, swings his right foot across the
line, not -merely before the ball is struck,
but before the ball reaches its maximum
height in the throwrup. ' It would re
quire but little effort of the will to era
dicate such a fault.
One of Saturday's players had afirst
service like the kick, of a horse. ' When
it didn't land in the top section of the
stop netting itjrplunged clean under the
net His second service was a loo. That
boy, seemingly, has his own ideas atyrat
what a service should be. Ten years or
more ago McLoughlin focussed the atten
tion of the tennis world on the potency
of the service as a weapon of offence.
More recently TiWen, taking up the
study where McLoughlm had abandoned
it, developed a so-calied 'cannon-ball' ser
vice that nothing but great skill andsome
good fortune could return. Now TrWen
himself opines that the days of the
cannon ball service are drawing to a
close. He believes it is his variety of
delivery, plus control, not his blinding
speed, that wins service games f6r him.
He has no faith in freak services for
match play. His advice to rising play
ers is to acquire the orthodox services
and then learn to deliver them with
varied pace and direction. 'Many a
point,' be says, 'has been won for me
because I handed up a feeble little well
placed service when I knew that my op
ponent -was expecting a cannon-ball. With
service, as ?with all other shots m tennis,
it is- brains well applied that wins.
Mr. E. P. Clarke on Saturday met with
a smile the many sympathisers who de
plored the defeat of High School, last
year's winners. As coach of the team,
Mr. Clarke must have been disappointed;
but that disappointment, doubtless, was
sufficientb' ameliorated by the intense
satisfaction -with the success of the tour
nament felt by Mr. Clarke, the man who
is coming to be regarded «s special advo
cate for the fuller development of junior
tennis in Western Australia.
The spirit of the age! In Parliament
one night last week the honourable and
learned member for Secondary Industries
declared that, in circumstances enumer
ated by him, 'we shall then have coming
to Western Australia, manufacturers
with their capital and their chemists. At
an early stage in the preparation of the
official report of the speech a horrified
chief of staff discovered that, through a
mishearing, the phrase bad been made
to read ''manufacturers with their capital
ami their tennis!'
The suburban championship tourna
ment, to be held on the courts of the
Loton Park Club, will begin on 'Satur
day, November 10. The events are:—
Men's: Singles and doubles champion
ships, singles and doubles handicaps;
ladies': Singles and doubles champion
ships, doubles handicap. Mixed: Doubles
championship, doubles handicap. Under
21 years: Boys' singles and doubles
championship; girls' doubles champion
ship. Junior (under 18) handi
caps: boy's singles, girls' singles; club
championships— men's singles and
doubles; ladies' singles and doubles. For
lonely doubles players the committee will
find 'partners or refund entry' fee. Entries
will close on Tuesday, November 6.
Afternoon tea and refreshments will be
obtainable on the ground. Play will begin
at the time advertised in the 'West
Australian,' and all competitors must be
on the ground ready to play at the time
fixed for their matches. The referee is
Mr. R. W. Richardson, who is also hon
orary secretary and treasurer of the
tournament committee.
Mr. W. R. Corr. honorary treasurer to
the W.A. Association through several
lean years, will be interested in learning
— if he did not know before — that iu
about 1911 or 1912 the English Associ
ation, suffering from 'lack of funds, de
cided to tax all players in open tourna
ments. Accordingly, ever since then a
special charge of 2s. has been levied upon
each entrant. Because of this and other
favouring factors, the financial position of
the English Association has enormously
improved in recent years. So a writer in
'Lawn Tennis and Badminton' now urges
that this 2s. impost should be relinquished
and, further, that in turn the association
should make monetary grants to fin
ancially embarrassed clubs for the specific
purpose of improving their courts.
At the annual meeting of the Katan
ning Club the election of officers resulted
as follows: — President. Mr. R. Cobham;
vice-presidents. Messrs. R. L. Richard
son,' A. D. Smith, W. P Bird; secretary
and treasurer. Mr. W. E. Richmond; cap
tain. Mr. J. Horrigan; vice-captain, Mr.
M. Little: lady cantain, Mrs. C. Ed
ward? : committee, Messrs. Tylor. Wat
kins. Mansom. iSpackraan. Little. Koehnp.
and Parkes (ex-honorary secretary. South
Perth Club): ladies' committee, Mps
damesORw'hmond. Bird. Spackman. T.vlor.
Barrot. Misses Muir. Burke. Richardson
and Garrity: auditor. Mr. .A. T. Crouch:
handicap and selection .committee. Messrs
Horriean. Little and Bird: delegate to
council of the association. Mr. P. F. G.
MiTIs, of P-rth. Subs -were- fixed at—
men £2. ladies', £1, visitors. 7s. 6d. per
month. A letter from the W.A.L.T.A.
urging the advantages of associate mem
bership was read and recommended, and
the honorary secretary was instructed to
receive and forward to Mr. E. J. T. War
ren, of Perth, -names of applicants for
such membership. Mrs. C. Edwards was
elected a life member of the club. The
official opening of the courts was fixed
for 'Saturday, October 6.
From the committee's annual report
the following excerpts -have been taken:
— Membership stands at 67 ? we
have suffered heavily by removals. On the
other hand -we expect valuable assist
ance in the new season from new mem
bers, including Messrs. W. M. Cleland
(junior champion of Western Australia),
A. H. Parkes (South Perth) and several
others. During the year country week in
Perth -was inaugurated, and the Katan
ning dub (represented by Messrs.
Koehne and Tylor) won the title of
champion country club. During the year
interclub matches -were played against
Albany, Mt. Barker. Gnowangerup, and
Wagin, and our 'ladies played against
Albany, Mt. Barker and Carrolup. Mem
bers are requested to remember that the
club property is their property, and to
gave the committee much needed assist
ance in protecting.it. Such little things
as seeing to it that lockers and gates are
fastened, balls gathered up and crockery
carefully put away, will do much to keep
down unnecessary expense.
$