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 Davis Cup players Lew Gerrard & Ian Crookenden and the Chairman of the IC Council Peter McQuibbon helped celebrate at Parnell Tennis 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 Anthony Wilding 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 John Isner, David Ferrer, Roberto Batista-Agut and Jack Sock 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 Argentina 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 (Germany) 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 Spain’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.