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April 2018

President Des Shaw [email protected] Live links to pages.

Hon Treasurer Paul Thomson [email protected] AGM and Dinner P 1 IC Philanthropy P 2

Hon Sec. Angela Hart [email protected] French Cocktail Party P 3 Blast from The Past P 4-5

Editor Cecilie McIntyre [email protected] News of Members P 5 Drop Shots P 6-8 Link to IC Council website www.ictennis.net President Des & New Members P 8

AGM and Dinner

Late last year we gave early notice of the date for our 62nd AGM and Annual Dinner. SUNDAY MAY 20th. Once again we will be hiring the very suitable Carlton Cornwall Bowling Club Lounge 126 Market Rd, Epsom Auckland. Parking will be available at 2 entrances, the second one is from Puriri Drive just around the corner in the Rugby Club entrance.

The Format is : Mix and Mingle 5 -6 pm AGM 6-6.30 pm Annual Dinner following this.

In the photo Manukau Rd is the main road with the route 12 sign.

Please reply to Angela Hart [email protected] as soon as possible but the final cut off date will be Friday 11th May We expect around 65-70 members and partners to this. Those who have read the last newsletter will realise we have a very generous anonymous member who has offered to fund this for financial members …. but we do need names of those attending.

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We are also pleased to tell you that IC Member Simon Rea, who is now the New Zealand High Performance Director, will talk with Greg Long in a Question and Answer session in the time between our main course and dessert. He had just started in a different role last year so it will be good to hear an update.

At the AGM Russell Tills will give a brief summary of our ideas to assist disadvantaged children learn life skills through tennis. Many IC’s around the world have been active with projects in their own countries or in Africa via the IC Philanthropy.

As mentioned above, many IC’s have been developing programmes to assist disadvantaged children learn life skills through tennis. Most of us realise how fortunate we are and the way tennis has shaped our lives, with friends and perhaps careers associated with what we have learned. Have a look at the link to the IC Council website and you will understand what we are trying to develop here. A small group of our members, under the guidance of Russell is working hard to get this underway. If we do it correctly, it is possible to receive a subsidy for funding towards this from a special fund built up with events like The Tennis Ball held in London and other private donors and fundraising. The Tennis Ball has mostly been held every second November, for around 400 guests raising the funds to support the world wide initiatives of IC Philanthropy.

This link takes you directly to the philanthropy pages on the Council website. Tap on any photos in the website to read more about the countries. http://www.icphilanthropy.ictennis.net/

2 3 French Cocktail evening. Tuesday 29th May

Notice about the Annual Cocktail event held during the at Roland Garros. If any of our members intend being in Paris at that time it is a great chance to enjoy a day watching tennis on the outside courts with a gate pass and then from 7 pm attend the cocktails with IC members from around the world. You must reply as below before the 19th May, and have with you your ICNZ tie or badge. You may be accompanied for the day and evening.

(Angela has emailed all members a notice about this.)

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. Blast From the Past One of our members, Malcolm, has sent these to recall the wonderful IC Week which ICGB put on in 1999 to celebrate their 75th Anniversary. We would love to have present day members being able to form teams to participate in IC Weeks or similar events around the world. Our Hon Secretary Angela does send notices to our NZ based and overseas members about of some of these but keep your eye on the IC Council website for future events and get in touch with us so we can try to coordinate a team. At times, we may be able to join with another IC if we need more numbers to participate.

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, August 1999

Ian Crookenden, Malcolm Elley, Grantley Judge, Brian Woolf, Paul Thomson, Paul Smith Jeremy Grubi. Marilyn Pryde –Lawrence, Brenda Perry, Cecilie McIntyre, Linda Nightngale, Amanda Trail. At the tme, Ian, Malcolm and Paul Smith were living and playing overseas. There was also a great group of members and partners who travelled through several countries playing other IC clubs before all meetng in London.

News of Members An update on our Touring players. Unfortunately, is in doubt for next month’s French Open as he has suffered a serious wrist injury. He has been advised to take a break so hopefully a 3-4 week break will be the answer . His current doubles ranking is 36. ’ 16th doubles ranking is holding steady and ’s is 56th .

Their doubles pairings are interesting, all 3 in the top 20 as a pair in the race to London which restarts in January each year. Michael with Raven Klaasen at 11th , Marcus with at 16th and Artem and Wesley Koolhof at 18th. Marina Erakovic is still recovering from her injury.

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Drop Shots The debate contnues over the future format of the Davis Cup. Former Swedish tennis player Jonas Bjorkman is not a fan of ITF's proposed Davis Cup reform. The ITF recently introduced a radical plan which would completely change the competition. Should the proposal get a pass in August in Orlando, the Davis Cup would become a one-week long tournament - - featured by 18 nations at a neutral venue in November. One tie would consist of two singles and one doubles rubber - - with a best-of-three-sets fomat . The proposal has been backed by world No. 1 . On the other side, a couple of popular tennis figures have publicly opposed the proposed reform - - most notably Australian Davis Cup Team Captain Lleyton Hewitt and French rising star Lucas Pouille, arguing that the competition would lose its soul under the proposed reform. Last week's Davis Cup action featured a memorable tie between Spain and Germany. Spaniard David Ferrer edged Germany's Philipp Kohlschreiber in the fifth rubber of the tie after four hours and 40 minutes of action to send Spain into the Davis Cup World Group semi-finals. "The Davis Cup ties this weekend had everything and it was amazing to watch. Can’t believe that (the) ITF (are) considering to take away this great team event...," Bjorkman wrote on Twitter. ************************** The revamp idea has come afer the ITF struck a deal with investment group Kosmos, founded and run by Spanish internatonal and FC Barcelona footballer Gerard Pique. It is expected to generate revenue to the tune of USD 3 billion in a 25-year period Another to speak against the idea this week is Anand Armritraj. He says, "The Davis Cup, and tennis in general, is much bigger than a few legends, who, like the greats before them, will soon be gone. To change a 118-year-old format so drastcally is such a bad move. "The whole charm of the Davis Cup is the home and away matches. In an away te, you had to contend with adverse conditons, such as extreme cold or searing heat, noisy and sometmes hostle crowds, bands playing and 5 set matches over 3 days. You had to fght hard and keep your cool, and somehow try to fnd a way to win. "I did it for 20 years, sometmes under terrible conditons, so I do know what it takes. In home tes, the opposing team sends their best players to make sure of a win. So what are the alternatves to keep the tournament, established in 1900, relevant? "Let's go back to the 1970s, when the world was divided into 4 zones, the Asian Zone, the American Zone and European Zones A and B. All countries would play in their respectve zones, with the 4 winners playing in the semifnal, followed by the fnal. That way, the players would not have to travel far, each playing in their own contnent, with the top stars possibly coming out only for the semis and fnal. "They would only have to give up 2 weekends for Davis Cup in their busy calendar. This format worked well for 74 years, and was then changed, partly due to the fact that only the 4 natons had won the Davis Cup. "Since then, at least 8 other countries, mostly European ones, have taken home the coveted trophy. In my proposal, the home and away tes would be preserved and all natons, big and small, would be part of one competton," Amritraj said. ITF President Dave Haggerty was recently in Bangkok to atend Sports Accord summit and said the idea was a "game changer" because "with the USD 22 million a year that goes back to the natons, it's really able to fund the development of tennis”. The idea will be put to vote at ITF AGM in August in Orlando and needs two-third majority to become a reality.

6 7 Drop Shots continued Alongside the usual changes that accompany every big tournament, the US Open will add another one this summer, becoming the first Grand Slam event that would use a 25-second serve clock in the main draws. . In 2017, we had a chance to see this innovation in qualifying and junior events and it all went well and that encouraged the organizers to apply the rule on every level and introduce it in the senior main draws as well. In addition, there are strict rules about pre-match warm-up, with only seven minutes that could pass from stepping on the court until the first point. Rafael Nadal and some others like to take a longer break after arriving on the bench, preparing their bottles, racquets and fixing their gear but that is long gone now, with exactly one Rafael Nadal, Current US Open Champion minute between showing on the court and appearing at the net to receive the final guidance before a five-minute warm-up. After that, there's another minute for preparing for the opening point of the match and the violators could be fined up to $20,000! If players fail to obey the 25-second serve rule there are three levels of penalty waiting for them: the warning for the first time overstep, followed by the loss of a point and eventually the loss of a game. In some way, players will have more time to prepare themselves for the next point since they have only 20 seconds to spend so far, but they will have to be careful to get used to this new rule and restrict their preparation to 25 seconds. Of course, not every point is the same and the chair umpire will have the possibility to delay the start of the next point after a long previous point in the late stages of what already has been a long match, in tough weather conditions and if fans interrupt the players between two points.

Late News !!

I’ve just had a message from Stephen Temple telling us that he and Quentn Maisey have just won the Championship Doubles in the 65s in the elegant Hanbury Club in Alassio. Quentn reached the semifnals in the singles too. Well done. It’s good to hear news of our members playing around the world in all age groups.

Another Wimbledon expansion? In an inclinaton to expand and extend its area spread, the All England Club is seeking to purchase the lease of the 73-acre Wimbledon Park golf club, which is located right opposite to it. The ofer made to the members of the golf club is around £50 million, which is said to be twice as the inital ofer quoted about three years ago. If the golf club is acquired by the All England Club, the qualifying matches which are presently held in Roehampton could be played there. However, these are plans set for the long- term and not in the immediate future. Speaking to Daily Mail, a spokesman for the All England Club said: ‘It is important we maintain our place at the pinnacle of the sport. Currently, our plans assume that we would be able to use the Wimbledon Park land from 2041. Should it become available earlier, that would beneft our decision-making.'

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Dates of the next Grand Slams. Roland Garros May 27th—June 10th Wimbledon July 2nd—15th Both have qualifying events during the week prior. There has been some confusion as on some sites the schedule of play is listed at startng on May 21st.

From a letter to The Times: (received from a member to amuse us all!) In 1584, when a plague was rampant in Oxford, Thomas Cogan published a note in The Haven of Health and advised students there that the best way of avoiding the disease was "to play with the little ball that we call Tenise. It doth exercise all parts of the body alike, as the legges, armes, neck, head, eies, back and loynes, and delighteth greatly the minde, making it lusty and cheerful". It almost certainly didn't prevent getting the plague but was still great advice.

Planning is still in progress for an ICNZ function in London hosted by our UK based Hon Member Mark Hadley. This will possibly be at NZ House on Thursday June 28th, a few days before the start of Wimbledon. If any of our members plan to be in London at that time please let me know asap. [email protected] . It was mentioned in the last newsletter, thanks to those who indicated they may be in London then.

The two most recent acceptances to our invitation to join ICNZ as Honorary members are David Howman from Wellington and Richard Goulding from Waikato. ************ Finally, our President Des Shaw will complete 18 years as President at the AGM and all members thank him very much for his outstanding contribution. Cecilie McIntyre has been nominated as his replacement. Des will continue on the committee and also as the Australasian representative on the IC Council. While talking about outstanding contributions, 2019 will be Paul Thomson’s 25th as our Hon Treasurer !! He will continue and the nominations have been outlined in the AGM & Annual Dinner notice which was sent to members last week. Please reply to Angela with dinner names and numbers as soon as possible for our catering purposes. For the committee, Cecilie 8