November — December 2016

President Des Shaw [email protected] 60th Anniversary Celebrations

Hon Treasurer Paul Thomson [email protected] AGM and Annual Dinner 7th May 2017

Hon Sec. Angela Hart [email protected] International Tournament Morning Tea Dates.

Editor Cecilie McIntyre [email protected] News of Members Link to IC Council website www.ictennis.net Visit from Czech Republic and Future Activities. Drop Shots

. ICNZ 60th Anniversary Celebrations 27th-28th August 2016

Special guests US based former players Lew Gerrard & Ian Crookenden and the Chairman of the IC Council Peter McQuibbon helped celebrate at Parnell Club, an Anniversary Dinner in Epsom and golf at the Royal Auckland Golf Club on Sunday28th .

We welcomed members from all around NZ and were delighted they made the effort to come to Auckland for the occasion, also some of the next generation who will be continuing the traditions of the IC movement.

Left, Brian Woolf, Ian Crookenden, Lew Gerrard, Onny Parun, Jeff Robson, all former Davis Cup players with ICNZ President Des Shaw.

Above, Lew and Ian with Peter Becroft at the Saturday afternoon mix and mingle at Parnell Tennis Club while some members were playing.

1 The best way I can summarise the wonderfully successful 60th celebration is to quote from President Des Shaw’s notes. Welcome to the 60th anniversary celebrations of the International Lawn Tennis Club of New Zealand.

There are many dignitaries here today. I will mention only two. Celia Patrick President of Tennis NZ , a board member of the ITF and member of ICNZ. Also Peter McQuibban Chairman of the Executive Committee of the IC Council. Your committee has worked hard to bring this altogether and we hope you will have an enjoyable and memorable time. This could not have happened on such a grand scale without the generosity of several donors all of whom wish to remain anonymous and of course the generosity of the IC Council. When the play is over would you please move quickly to your tables. But now as they say in show business, “Let the show begin!” (This was a performance of the one-man play, The Story written and performed by Matt Chamberlain)

Now I am going to ask our distinguished patron Jeff Robson to talk about the formation of our ICNZ and all other ICs. Sir Tom Eichelbaum a former Chief Justice is going to propose a toast to IC NZ and all other ICs. Peter McQuibban will reply on behalf of the overseas guests.

Sir Tom Eichelbaum, Celia Patrick and Peter McQuibban After the main course: I am going to talk briefly about another high achieving New Zealander who is here tonight. He has won the NZ singles title three times. He has played Davis Cup for many years. Davis Cup captain for ten years. Reached the last sixteen at Wimbledon. A life member of Tennis NZ. In badminton he has won nine NZ singles titles. Ranked in top six in the world. Des Shaw and Jeff Robson MBE Won Australian, Scottish and Irish titles. For 25 years was controller of badminton at several Olympics. On our 60th anniversary Jeff we would like to honour you with Life Membership of our club.

Would you please come forward and accept a small gift. Now would you all stand and put your hands together and congratulate this outstanding New Zealander.

2 Greg Long did an outstanding job in organising the golf at Royal Auckland Golf Club on the Sunday. The golf was followed by a gourmet lunch arranged by John Lockington. It was a beautiful day and the event was enjoyed by all. It was a fitting conclusion to two days of celebration of our 60th anniversary.

US based Lew and Ian were delighted to meet up with old friends after so many years.

Dianne & Ian Crookenden Lew Gerrard with Betty Kay

There were far too many photos taken during the weekend to include here, but all members were sent a link to a free app, Cluster , to view the photos. There will also be a Photo Book to look at during the morning teas in January.

3 AGM DATE 2017 Sunday 7th May; Please right now add this date to your calendar !! This avoids the school holidays, Mother’s Day and the world Masters Games.

More details later, but the short meeting and dinner will be held at the same venue as our recent successful functions, the Carlton Cornwall Bowling Club, Epsom Auckland.

January International Tournaments. All members were notified about the opportunity to receive gate passes to the morning teas on the Mondays, as usual, for themselves and a friend and a ticket to the appropriate Monday’s play with the option to buy an extra seat if required. It is too late now to ask for any tickets. The morning tea dates are (From 10.30 am) Tickets and details will be sent by Tennis nd ASB Women’s Classic Monday January 2 Auckland mid to late December. ASB Men’s Classic Monday January 9th

Outstanding fields for both NZ International Tournaments

The ASB Classic will span two weeks; the women's tournament starting on January 2nd to 7th followed by the men’s tournament from January 9th to 14th.

Serena and Venus Williams are the headline players and with Caroline Wozniacki and Ana Ivanovic joining them , it could be argued that the women’s event will have the strongest field of any sporting event held in New Zealand.

The men’s field is also very strong with previous champions , , Roberto Batista-Agut and who unfortunately had to withdraw during the final earlier this year fulfilling his promise to return.

We have also just heard that Juan Martin del Potro will be playing in Auckland. He won our tournament in 2009 and also won the US Open later that year. Injuries have kept him out of all tennis for the last couple of years but this year he has made an outstanding comeback, last week helping win the Davis Cup for the first time. He has also had wins over Djokovic, Nadal and Murray this year.

News of Members Our former Hon Secretary Pam Sowter is now a Life Member of Tennis Auckland . A well-deserved honour . Roger Harvey has been appointed Hon Vice President for TNZ. Congratulations to you both. Pictured at an IC morning tea in 2013. New Members We welcome Matt Prentice and Martin Colenbrander as Members and Ashley Wilson and Don Cotter as Honorary members. Martin has been a Young Associate after playing in our junior Trans Tasman teams.

4 I asked Mike Venus our top ranked player (32 in the current ATP Doubles Rankings) to summarise his year. 2016 has been the best year of my career. I made 9 finals, win- ning 4 titles and finished the year ranked 32. I am very happy with where my game is at right now but still have quite a few areas to improve on, so look forward to tackling those challenges. On the flip side, this has been the hardest year of my life outside of tennis. My dad passed away at the age of 58. He was my biggest fan - he even took a couple months off work to travel with me when I was just getting started to help me out. This has and is still taking some time to adjust to but the support of my family and friends has enabled me to keep pushing on with what I love. I am looking forward to getting back on the court in 2017! A message from Mark Hadley Great to get the newsletter as usual !I forgot to inform you that I had some success at the ITF Young Seniors World Championships in the Over 40s age group in April in Umag, Croatia. In the Men's doubles I got a silver medal with Henrik Mueller-Frerich () and lost to the top seeds (more Germans !) in the final. I finally got my first World Championship Title in winning the Mixed Doubles with ’s Ana Salas-Lozano. We won an epic final 10-7 in the champions breaker against two Slovenians (photo attached). We were both ranked number 1 in the world and the top seeds going into the tournament so the pressure was on to deliver ! You will notice I am proudly wearing my NZ team shirt . All is going well over in London and I'm looking forward to the next World Championships in Capetown next year. Best wishes, Mark Hadley

Message from President Des on future activities. Visit from Czech Republic A small team from the IC of the Czech Republic will be visiting Auckland and playing a match against us on Thursday 2nd February. The venue is yet to be decided. It will be an opportunity to meet and greet these players over a light lunch or afternoon tea. We played a match in Prague in 2006 in a three way match including USA. Helena Sukova played in their team and some of us met Martina Hingis. We will email more information to you later. The plaque given to ICNZ in Prague when we played a 3 way match with Czech Republic and

USA over 2 days in 2006.

Matches against IC Australia We are currently discussing the possibility of a regular annual match against IC Australia. The first match will be played in New Zealand next year. Venue and date yet to be decided.

IC of Hungary They are keen to visit us here. Work in progress

5 The World Masters Games will be held in the greater Auckland area from April 21st-30th 2017 . This covers an amazing 28 sports! Many of our members are taking part in various sports or volunteering. Tennis will be hosted at the Albany Tennis Centre. Get along to watch if you can.

News from other IC’s Osamu Ishiguro, longstanding member of the IC of Japan, passes away. It is with great sadness to report the passing away of Osamu Ishiguro, a hugely successful member of the IC of Japan. Osamu was a former national champion in singles, doubles and mixed doubles, as well as a successful Davis Cup player and Captain. He was the first player to turn professional after WWII and was notably the first Chairman of the Board for the Japanese Professional Tennis Association. As a hugely influential and important figure in Japanese tennis, messages of condolences have been passed on from other ICs of the World.

The 6 Nations Trophy organized by the IC in Punta del Este, Club del Lago, gathered between Oct 26 and 30, 2016 players from the USA, Mexico, Argentina, Chile, Canada and Uruguay.

We had the pleasure to have two members of the IC Board, Dan Waldman from the U.S. and Gustavo Herrero from Argentina. Good tennis was played in men, ladies and mixed doubles in a wonderful IC atmosphere of friendship and sportsmanship. A Tango Show preceded the Farewell Dinner of " asado " ( barbecue - the Uruguayan way ) World Junior Challenge You may recall that last October NZ was very close to winning the regional play offs in the Compass IC Junior Challenge World Wide Finals held in Singapore, but lost to Japan in a round robin. The finals took place in Monaco in September where Japan came a close 2nd. The results were: Spain won the sixth Compass IC Junior Challenge World Wide Finals with a last day win over Monaco/. It was close in many other matches but Spain came through with an unbeaten record . Second place was taken by Japan with four wins and only one loss to Spain 4-2. After that it got very interesting. On the last day's play South Africa came through to beat the USA 4-2. This meant that after five days of play the teams of South Africa, USA and Argentina all had two wins each. So to decide the 3rd, 4th and 5th places it was up to Mixed Doubles tie breaks. In the draw USA was in the semi-final with South Africa and Argentina getting the bye. With all the teams now focussed on watching these matches it was an intense atmosphere for the players. In the semi-final USA won over South Africa to line up a final place play off with Argentina. However this time the USA could not repeat their earlier mixed doubles result and Argentina won to give them the third place overall.

Final placings: 1 Spain, 2 Japan, 3 Argentina, 4 USA, 5 South Africa, 6 Monaco/France

Sportsmanship awards were given to Yuki Ando of Japan and Alexandre Figl of Monaco/France.

It was a great week and setting that the juniors will remember all their life and it is thanks to the great organisation of the IC of Monaco and The Monte Carlo Country Club.

6 Controversial work on the expansion of Roland Garros, the historic but cramped home of the , was given the green light to resume again this month.

The Paris High Court found in favour of the French Tennis Federa- tion (FFT) and quashed a ruling issued on Oct 6 which had ordered work to stop. It is the latest twist in a long-running saga involving the €400 million (US$448 million) redevelopment of the site in the plush western sector of Paris.

After numerous procedural incidents, the Court of First Instance of Paris has just ruled that the project of modernization of the Roland-Garros stadium does not affect the work of Jean-Camille Formigé in the garden of the greenhouses of Auteuil.

Drop Shots

Keep your eye out for Taylor Fritz in the early rounds in Auckland….. and who knows how far he will go. The 19 year old American won the US Open Junior Tournament and was runner up in the French. He started this year at 174th and by August was 53rd.

Jack Sock, now ranked 23 had eight drug tests in the space of five weeks. All players have to be ready for random out of competition testing as well as during tournaments.

The Pascoes NZ Tennis Champs 12-17th December will have a very good draw this year. Early rounds are at Albany Park with the semis and finals held at the ASB Tennis Arena. In the men’s the winners of singles and doubles will receive a valuable wild card into the ASB Classic. In the women’s event the winner will receive a wild card into the qualifying event.

Russell Tills represented ICNZ at the IC Council Annual General meetings during Wimbledon. He gave a very comprehensive report to the recent committee meeting and says NZ ‘punches above our weight’ in many aspects. Athol, Russell’s father, was our representative on the Council for many years and Des Shaw currently represents Australasia on the Council.

To read previous newsletters , click the dates. February 2016 April 2016 August 2016

It’s always good to hear news from or about members whether they are still playing or not, and living overseas or in NZ. Please email Cecilie anytime. Don’t forget the AGM and Annual Dinner on 7th May . Very early notice of the date !! On behalf of the committee, Cecilie [email protected]

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