December 2018

Page 1 ASB Classic and AGM Dates President Cecilie McIntyre [email protected] Page 2 Obituary Sir Tom Eichelbaum Page 3 IC France Sept 2019 Hon Treasurer Paul Thomson [email protected] Page 4 New Members and Angela and Michael Hon Sec. Angela Hart [email protected] Page 5 Paris and London report Vice President Russell Tills [email protected] Page 6 Blast from the Past and Link to IC Council website www.ictennis.net Page 7 Marina Erakovic and Kevin Woolcott

Page 8 Drop Shots

Get togethers during the ASB Classic International Tournaments in It was noted in the previous Newsletter that arrangements will be a little different this summer. 31st December Afternoon Tea from 1.30pm during the Women’s tournament. 7th January Morning Tea from 10.30am during the Men’s tournament.

Angela has just posted tickets and gate passes to those who ordered them. One change this year is that the stand tickets will be in a block near the back of the Robinson Stand. This will allow access to the morning tea area in the Legends Lounge and will also mean no one will have their view restricted by being in the front row of the Redwood Stand with the boxes directly in front. If any of you find you no longer need a ticket or ground pass, would you PLEASE let Cecilie or Angela know so we can collect them from you.

Reminder of our AGM and Dinner 2019 Next year’s date will be Sunday 5th May with the mix and mingle starting from around 5.30 pm This will be at the now familiar Carlton Cornwall Bowling Club Lounge, in Epsom, Auckland We are delighted to tell you that IC Member David Howman, a former Chair of TNZ Board and well known as the former Head of WADA (World Anti Doping Authority) for 13 years and now Head of the newly established Athletics Integrity Unit will be our guest speaker. He spoke briefly at the recent IC function and has fascinating insights to relate. Those who are financial members are invited, with a companion if desired, at no charge to this Dinner thanks to the generosity of an anonymous club member. We are very grateful to this member and hope some more members from out of Auckland will be able to come. Wellington Member

David Howman. Please note the date now.

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We were all very sorry to hear that one of our ‘elder statesmen members’ Sir Tom Eichelbaum had died. This tribute from Des Shaw.

“Sir Thomas Eichelbaum died recently at the age of 78. He was Chief Justice of from 1989 to 1994. Chief Justice Dame Sian Elias said, ”Tom was held in the highest affection by the judges who served under him, both for his leadership and for his personal warmth and kindness. He was greatly admired as a very fine judge.” Tom was born in Germany to Jewish parents who emigrated to New Zealand in 1938 to escape the persecution of Jews. He was seven years old at that time. Tom was a representative player and an honorary member of our club. He proposed the toast at our 60th anniversary and had a long association with .”

Tom used to come to Auckland to watch the later stages of the Men’s Classic and it was a pleasure to talk to him then. He came to the recent Wellington get together mentioned in the October newsletter and soon after sent this email, which I think typifies his thoughtfulness and interest in tennis. Hi Cecilie, Good to catch up last weekend, that was a very successful get together. I want to congratulate you on the newsletter - so much interesting reading. And to learn it was your 72nd - that's just amazing! Reading about Mark Lewis reminded me of a moment long ago. My cousin's house backed on to the tennis club at Mt Eden. On a visit from Wellington I heard the sound of tennis balls so went to the back fence to have a look, where I found 2 youngsters (perhaps 10 or 12 years old) having beautiful rallies - so much so that I made a point of asking for their names. Turned out they were 2 of the Lewis boys, sons of my tennis friend Jim. Small world. Best regards, Tom

August 2016

Sir Tom with Tennis NZ Chair and ICNZ Member Celia Patrick, and Chairman of the IC Council Peter McQuibban at the 60th Anniversary Dinner.

September 2018

At the recent Wellington IC get together with Marion Law and Viv Calender.

IC Philanthropy There will be a separate communication about this emailed to members before Christmas, with an update to be given at the morning tea of the Men’s Classic.

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Since the last Newsletter Malcolm Elley and our Hon Secretary Angela have collated the replies about the interest in either playing against other IC Clubs, touring as a player or supporter, playing locally or helping with visiting teams etc. Thanks to those who replied. Paul White has been appointed to the Match Convenors sub committee with other committee members and he will be contacting members re availability for future events. The main one we will take part in will be the IC Week in Le Tourquet, France next September. This was covered extensively in the September Newsletter .( Tap the link to re-read)

It is an important week celebrating the 90th Anniversary of IC France. The trophies played for at this event are in the younger age group than some other IC events. The Windmill Trophy teams have 2 men 45 and over and 2 men under 45. Teams will appoint a Captain who can be one of the players or a non-playing one. Similarly the Mercilis Trophy teams have 1 woman 40 and over and 1 under 40. More details are also on the Council website. under events .

These IC Weeks are some of the most enjoyable our members experience. Des tells a story of Onny Parun who played in an IC Week event towards the end of his career and thought it was one of his most enjoyable tennis experiences.

Our Club is paying the entrance fee of 120 Euro per player which covers lunches and dinners with different social activities on the Friday evening. Team members will pay their accommodation and other costs as usual. If you would like to be considered for selection for this team you may have heard from Paul White, but otherwise please urgently email Angela. [email protected] Members living overseas will be considered as well as NZ based members. Supporters will be welcome.

Tickets for Wimbledon 2019 Monday 1st July – Sunday 14th July.

If any of you are interested in entering the overseas ballot for these tickets, you will have just another few days. Closing December 15th , just before midnight on Saturday GMT. It is not first in, first served, all applicants will have an equal chance.

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New Members At the last AGM the change was made to expand the eligibility to be invited to join ICNZ to the top 20 ranked players. We are pleased that this has resulted in being able to invite more ‘next generation’ who are still active players. We still have an Honorary category and hope all will enjoy being part of our club. There are several new members with family connections this time. Lesley Ferkins was ranked top 20 and now becomes the 3rd generation IC Member , following her grandfather and her parents, Raewyn and the late Roly. Glenn Ryder joins his father Barry who was our Hon Auditor for many years. Jules Stephan’s mother Elaine and uncle Peter Becroft are both well known long standing members. Jeff Sowter is Club Captain of West Harbour Tennis Club and joins his mother Pam, our wonderful Hon Secretary for many years. Neil Carter is currently our Fed Cup Captain after coaching in Otago and UK. Feleti Sofele , was in the news last summer when he and Jane were married on court the day before the ASB Classic, with the ceremony conducted by Agnieszka Radwanska. Marc Paulik has received his tie at the recent Wellington function and is coaching in Hutt Valley. Julian Faulls was a tennis professional in Germany for many years and his interest in tennis remains as head of the NZ Plexipave business. Top current NZ players and have also been invited as Touring Members.

Our Hon Secretary Angela Hart is also President of Tennis Auckland this season. She is pictured here with our IC member Mark Lewis and Angela Swinkels, the Captain of the Royal Oak winning Scarboro Caro Bowl Women’s final .

Michael Venus All players on the ATP and WTA circuit strive to be part of the year -ending FINALS. For the second year we are so pleased that our top ranked Doubles player Michael Venus has finished high enough up the rankings to be part of the Finals played in London in November. This year his partner is South African Raven Klassen. Their best Grand Slam result was losing in the final of Wimbledon to Mike Bryan and Jack Sock 7/5 in the 5th set . Their very exciting quarter final win was shown live on TV here, when they beat Murray and Soares 6/4 in the 5th set. This photo shows the 8 top teams. Michael & Raven are at the front of the left side.

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Contact with Overseas IC Members Recently our President Cecilie McIntyre and her husband Ken were treated to 2 examples of IC hospitality. President of IC France Thierry Pham, an Hon member of ICNZ after the French team’s enjoyable visit here a few years ago, arranged for them to watch the ATP Rolex Masters event, from the Presidential Box. The most exciting match they saw, played in an impressive indoor stadium in Paris was the match between Raonic and Tsonga won by the Canadian 6/7 7/6 7/6 .

Once in London, another Hon NZIC Member Peter Jackson, a Vice President of the AELTC arranged an evening with 8 ICGB members and their partners. Many of them have been to NZ and send their best wishes to their NZ friends. Pictured here are Boyd Cuthbertson ICGB Hon Secretary and President Mark Cox , well known to many of us.

Peter Jackson, a Vice President of AELTC and his wife Ann billeted many NZ’ers while running the Surrey Hard Court tournament in Guildford. Mark Hadley organised the successful Cecilie first stayed there 50 years ago. cocktail party at NZ House just before Both Peter in London and Thierry in Paris wore Wimbledon. He has recently been appointed the ICNZ UK Liaison Officer and is keen to their ICNZ ties! help with future IC events,

Mark Farrell. We have received a message from John Mills letting us know that his friend and GB IC member Mark Farrell passed away on the 26th November at the age of 65. Mark played here with John Lloyd at the Benson and Hedges January 74. He played Davis Cup doubles for GB and with Lesley Charles he lost in the Wimbledon mixed final to and . His biggest weapon was his left handed serve. A sad loss.

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BLAST FROM THE PAST

The second photo leads me to the present Davis Cup thoughts. The 2019 event will be played in a different format. Here is a quote from a recent Sport Illustrated article “In 2019, the Davis Cup will, of course, be played in a one-week, 18- team tournament at a neutral site. Best-of-three will replace best-of- five. The other great difference will be financial. This new format will, allegedly, bring far more revenue to players and federations. I’m of two minds here. The traditionalists seemed to have forgotten just how much prestige and relevance the Davis Cup had lost. Players de-prioritized it. Fans were confused or indifferent. Ratings fell. Change was in order. But the current situation reminds me a bit of Brexit. “The current arrangement stinks! Dammit, we are casting a vote for change.” Paul Smith, Malcolm Elley and Steve Yet the details were sketchy, the financial projections may have been Guy, school boy friends in the early unduly rosy, and once emotions cooled and the pragmatic realities have 1970s with the Davis Cup in Wellington . set in, there is considerable buyers’ remorse. “How the hell did this pass? What now? Can we revote? Is a soft Davis Cup an option?” My take: Some of this wistfulness is a bit much. We forget the half-filled stands and the stars’ complaints and the fact that France won the Cup last year without confronting a top-40 opponent over four rounds. But the onus has shifted to the ITF. They did their canvassing and whipping and got their votes for change.

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This week our No 1 tennis player for the last decade Marina Erakovic announced her retirement at the age of 30 after 13 years on tour. Injuries have prevented her from playing this year. She will study full time to complete the business degree she has been working on extramurally while on tour. She had a great Junior career, coinciding with Caroline Wozniaski and Victoria Azarenka. In 2004 she won the US Junior Doubles and was runner up at Wimbledon, then in 2005 won the Australian Junior Doubles with Victoria, before being runner up again at Wimbledon this time losing to Victoria. In the WTA events her highest singles ranking was 39 in 2012 and in doubles 25th. She won one singles title and eight doubles. Her Wimbledon doubles semifinal achievement I think will be one of her most satisfying in the future though as this qualified her as a member of the prestigious Last 8 Club, giving her access to a ‘haven’ where past top players can meet, relax and watch the play. Wimbledon was the first to offer this but the other Grand Slams have followed suit. We all wish Marina a happy retirement . She will not become a coach, but has said she would like to mentor the younger NZ players in the future.

The Tennis NZ awards night was held on December 13th, in an excellent evening hosted by Matt Brown. Congratulations to a wide range of recipients from clubs around the country as well as the top players., including several of our ICNZ members. A very special award was given to Kevin Woolcott as the inaugural winner of the Spirit of Tennis award for his long career of playing, coaching, and helping disabled youngsters amongst his many tennis related achievements. He managed several of our ICNZ junior teams and was given a standing ovation when this new award was announced.

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Drop Shots !

The will follow Wimbledon in introducing tiebreakers in the final sets of all matches, according to the Times. The change could be introduced as soon as the 2019 tournament. The Open would differ from Wimbledon's rules by including a "super tie-break" played at 6–6, in which players would have to win ten points by a margin of two. Wimbledon recently introduced a final-set tiebreaker at 12-12 to start in 2019. The US Open has played a tie- break at 6-6 for almost 50 years, while the does not use any final set tie-break.

This will mean scores like this will no longer happen! John Isner will be back in Auckland at the ASB Classic . Among other top players will be : Fabio Fognini, Tomas Berdych, Gael Monfils, Dennis Shapovalov, Hyeon Chung, Taylor Fritz. These last 3 are among the next generation of stars. The well known women returning the week before will be , Venus Williams, defending champion Julia Goerges , Victoria Azarenka , and many other top players .

Martina Navratilova has paid a great tribute to the recently retired Agnieszka Radwanska who won our ASB Classic in 2013. It is too long to copy here but if you are interested click this link.

Tennis might just be the best thing to extend your life Amelie Mauresmo has decided A new study from Denmark shows that playing tennis may extend against taking over as Captain of your life by nearly 10 years. The authors of the new study looked at France’s Davis Cup team, instead a range of sports activities - in particular, they looked at tennis, will be the coach of her badminton, soccer, jogging, cycling, calisthenics, swimming, and compatriot Lucas Pouille. gym/health club activities. They followed a large sample of people over a 25 year period - long enough to ask the question: how does World No 1 Simona Halep has participation in sports affect life expectancy? chosen to start the year without a coach, after Darren Cahill has Tennis players had the longest expected lifetime among the 8 decided to take a 12 month break different sports, extending one's life expectancy by 9.7 years. from coaching. That's a remarkably big benefit, one that surprised even the study authors.

We look forward to seeing many of you at the ASB Classic Tournaments. Please remember to note MAY 5th as the date of our next AGM and Dinner. All contributions are welcome, articles, photos etc. We wish you all a wonderful and safe Christmas. For the Committee, Cecilie [email protected] 8