February 2019

President Cecilie McIntyre [email protected] Page 1 AGM Date Page 2-3 Morning and Afternoon teas & photos.

Hon Treasurer Paul Thomson [email protected] Page 4-6 Both ASB Classic thoughts

Hon Sec. Angela Hart [email protected] Page 6 Inaugural ATP Cup 2020 Page 6-7 IC Philanthropy Vice President Russell Tills [email protected] Page 8 Message from Neil Carter Page 9 Snippets Link to IC Council website www.ictennis.net Page 10 Blast from the Past & Drop Shots

CHANGE OF DATE FOR MAY AGM & DINNER Now 19th May After we were sure we had the date settled months ago for the next ICNZ AGM we are embarrassed to find that with a change of manager at Carlton Cornwall Bowling Club that date of Sunday May 5th is not now available.

Those of you who have been to recent Dinners there know that it is an extremely suitable venue with 2 sections so we can set up the dinner tables at one end and use the other for the mix and mingle and the AGM and then move back for the dinner and speakers between courses. It is also centrally located near motorway access. We have unsuccessfully tried a couple of other nearby venues on that date, but have now made the decision to delay it for 2 weeks. ( Sunday the 12th is Mothers Day and not suitable for us) so so we will now have our AGM and Dinner on Sunday 19 th May from 5.30 pm. This will be at the Carlton Cornwall Bowling Club in Epsom . All members have been emailed about this change but please note the date. All those who are financial members are invited, with a companion if desired. Once again we are indebted to our generous, anonymous donor who has offered to cover the dinner expenses at the 2019 AGM. (More details and a request for names of those attending will be sent in early April so we have the correct numbers for the catering.)

International Tournaments Get Togethers These were as successful as ever with over 60 members and guests coming to the afternoon tea on 31st December and even more to the morning tea at the start of the Men’s week. We have continued to use the ‘Cluster’ system to share the numerous photos taken at both. This is a private way to share photos but is not limited just to IC Members, there are others who have been invited to join.

Many of you have viewed the photos, but if you would like to join in CEO Marcus Reynolds. click here. Tennis Auckland President and our ICNZ https://cluster.co/i/XVX3DXDD Hon Secretary Angela Hart with her husband Clive. Instructions are easy to follow. (Continued on P 2 ) 1

If you need a password we suggested ICTennis18 last year. This will still be current or you can use your own password. Here are a few of the photos, but they are larger on Cluster and any can easily be saved from there. Several of the recently invited members were able to receive their badges and ties, but at this time of the year many were away for the Christmas / New Year summer holidays.

Paul White and Sam Dean.

Greg Long, Angela Hart, new Hon Member Feleti Sofele, our UK Liaison Officer Mark Hadley, new Member and Fed Cup Captain Neil Carter, Cecilie McIntyre, Lynette Duncan, and new Member US based Simon Robinson.

Simon Robinson recalling his tennis days in NZ. New Members , Erin President Cecilie and new Member Routliffe and Neil Carter. See more on P 7 Lesley Ferkins.

Old friends…..Tennis Auckland Life Member John Barry, Kevin Long, behind ...John Mills & Malcolm, Russell Tills Simon Robinson, Lynette Duncan and Malcolm Elley. Des Shaw and Mark Hadley.

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Brian Woolf & Chris Ronayne Peter Stokes & John Lawrence

Mark & Cecilie with our new pole flag. Jill Bignell who organises our functions and Pam Sowter our former IC Hon Secretary.

Jill Fraser, who has been a member for years but can’t usually come as she is playing top bowls. Des and Jeannette with old Eden Epsom friend Marty This year the dates didn't clash! Ellis. With Karen and Kevin Woolcott.

3 A report from Paul White International Match Convenor. IC Week Le Touquet The 90th Anniversary of the IC France is confirmed for the 8th to 12th September in Le Touquet France. Our Club has registered for the mens and womens events with very positive feedback from IC France. Several of our top national players have confirmed their interest to participate in the prestigious Wind- mill Trophy (mens) and Mercelis Trophy (women). Thanks again to all those Club members who registered their interest. The last 2 newsletters have mentioned this very important event with a map and playing ages etc. Gold Coast We are also anticipating sending a team to an IC Australia event on the Gold Coast in September/October. When the date is confirmed we will seek registration of interest for this event which may be more accessible for many of our members. The Australian IC have indicated they will welcome any of our members who wish to support the team and join in but not play tennis.

Looking back on the two January International Tournaments, the ASB Classics. The ASB Classic has its niche, and as demonstrated by Jan-Lennard Struff and Pablo Carreno Busta, can produce unbelievable contests when least expected. Carreno Busta saved nine break points in the first set alone, including four consecutive set points in one service game, which stretched for 11 minutes. During both weeks Michael Burgess wrote some perceptive articles which members not within the NZ Herald circulation area will find interesting. I have received his permission to quote from them, with acknowledgement to the NZ Herald.

“Whatever achieves in the rest of his tennis career, he'll always be able to look back on yesterday with immense pride. That was the moment when he produced his best possible tennis, on the biggest local stage, at the ideal time. His 7-5, 6-3 win over world No 25 Hyeon Chung was a stunner, the kind of result that just doesn't happen. From a local perspective, it was surely the biggest singles result here since Marina Erakovic, then ranked world No 153, beat second seed and world No 23 Vera Zvonareva in the semi-finals of the 2008 WTA event. It's also the kind of positive jolt that the sport in this country needs, after the annual dose of hand wringing about the state of the game that accompanies the Auckland tennis fortnight. While there is a lot of angst about the future, Statham, along with the impressive doubles exploits of , and , have kept tennis relevant across the globe.”

Drama and skill: We just don’t know how lucky we are: Michael Burgess “One of the best sporting contests seen on these shores played out at the ASB Classic this week. A match of supreme intensity, unbelievable drama and superb skill. And it featured a relatively unknown German, who never had gone beyond the quarter-final of an ATP event, against a low profile but highly-talented Spaniard.”

4 “The marathon quarter-final between world No 58 Jan-Lennard Struff and third seed Pablo Carreno Busta will live long in the memory of those in the capacity crowd who witnessed it, along with everyone watching on television. It was a thriller, eventually won by Struff 7-6 (5), 6-7 (6), 7-6 (7) and a reminder of the ongoing quality of this event. Especially after all the hand wringing earlier this week following the absence of some of the bigger names, including Tomas Berdych, and Gael Monfils. Those who were questioning the withdrawals don’t understand the realities of professional tennis. And those who were debating the strength of the field don’t know how good we have it. Firstly, although Berdych and Monfils in particular were losses, it’s part of the sport and happens every year, especially if players have a strong tournament the week before. And other storylines always emerge. has been a focal . In terms of the quality of the field — in the immortal words of Fred Dagg — “We don’t know how lucky we are”. The men’s ASB Classic had 15 of the top 60 players in the world in the main draw, plus a qualifying field featuring several others in the top100. Look at golf, the other major global individual sport. The organisers of New Zealand’s major golf tournaments would be doing cartwheels if they even got a few names in the top-100 to come here. It just doesn’t happen. And players in the top-20? No chance. Golf would kill for their equivalent of Struff (world No 58), Tennys Sandgren (No 61) or (50). But it’s not possible because, unlike in tennis with the Australian Open, there is no major to lure them to this part of the world. The ASB Classic has its niche, and as demonstrated by Struff and Carreno Busta, can produce unbelievable contest when least expected. Carreno Busta saved nine break points in the first set alone, including four consecutive set points in one service game, which stretched for 11 minutes. After the players had split consecutive tiebreakers, the final set was a beauty. Carreno Busta twice broke the towering Struff — who was serving bombs in excess of 215km/h — but couldn’t hold. The penultimate game of the final set was the best of the match. Carreno Busta fended off four match points in a row, with a remarkable display of composure under pressure, before flashing a winner down the line to take the game. The subsequent tiebreak had more twists, with both players having match points, before Struff finally converted his seventh in the 180th minute of an epic encounter.”

Jan-Lennard (left ) also won the doubles final, playing with Ben McLachlan. Ben now represents , his mother’s country, but he and his brother Riki played in the winning NZIC Junior team which won the final of the first IC Junior Challenge in 2008. That was played on the same courts here in Auckland. (See P 10)

Ben’s ATP doubles ranking is now 24th. Pablo Carreno Busta

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The women’s Classic also produced some stunning tennis …the first round match between two former No 1 players was one. Venus Williams eventually beat returning star Victoria Azarenka in a 3 set match which would have been a worthy final.

See the later update on Page 8 about our runner up who stunned both and Venus on her way to the final.

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Sydney to host inaugural ATP Cup finals from next year. On the first day of our ASB Men’s Classic we heard confirmation of activities which could have a major bearing on our future Men’s tournament.

Sydney has won ‘finals’ hosting rights for the inaugural 24-team ATP Cup men’s tennis tournament in January next year. Sydney will also host part of the group stages, along with and a third Australian city to be announced at a later date.

The $US15 million ($A21 million) event, comprising three eight-team groups, will be the richest in tennis history outside of the four annual tournaments. “With more than 100 players from 24 nations, the ATP Cup will help us launch the global tennis season every January in Australia,” said CEO Craig Tiley at a launch event on Sydney Harbour attended by ATP tour chairman and president Chris Kermode. Brisbane will hold its ATP Cup group stage along with its existing women’s event. To read more click here.

By involving 100 top players we will have to wait and see what effect this will have, but we can be assured Tournament Director, and Hon ICNZ Member Karl Budge will be doing his best to bring top tennis to Auckland for both weeks as usual.

ICNZ Philanthropy So far 13 of the 42 International Clubs around the world have developed Philanthropy Programmes. We realise how lucky most of our members are, that the pleasure and lifetime friends we have developed through our love of tennis is so valuable and we are wanting to ‘give something back’ in the best way we can. Some countries have started programmes in other less well-off countries and others like us want to start at home to develop LIFESKILLS through tennis. For instance IC France is assisting in Cambodia. Sometime, have a look at this link to the IC Council at the progress being made. You will recognise many famous players who have become involved. ICPHILANTHROPY NZ’s involvement is ably led by our Vice President Russell Tills who has written the report on the next page.

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ICNZ Philanthropy

The ICNZ Committee have endorsed a Pilot Programme of 8 Tennis Lessons with Life Skills at a low decile Primary School in South Auckland, targeting disadvantaged children. The lessons commence on Friday 8 February 2019 at Bairds Mainfreight Primary School and will run for 8 consecutive weeks on the same week day at the same time. Each lesson will start at 11.30am and will last for approximately one hour. Tracey O’Connor will be the Lead Coach of the programme. ICNZ members will be welcome to observe the lessons. Please notify Angela Hart in advance at [email protected] if you wish to attend.

Marketing/Design Help Needed – ICNZ Philanthropy Is there someone amongst the ICNZ membership that can help us with designing a brandmark for our programme, developing collateral, promotion and communications? Please contact Russell Tills at [email protected] if you can help.

Many thanks to the ICNZ Members who have contributed to the Pilot Programme; Lynette Duncan, Greg Long, Chris Ronayne, Russell Tills & Don Turner. Special thanks to Mark Lewis, Tracey O’Connor & Kevin Woolcott who have developed the lesson format to include the Life Skills. We are grateful for the assistance of Tennis New Zealand in helping with the development of the programme. We have greatly appreciated the involvement of Bairds Mainfreight Primary School in the programme to date and are looking forward to working with their children. Russell Tills.

Russell, updating our members and visitors about the new development for our club during the recent IC morning tea.

7 Our top three women players in NZ are all young and have been, or are about to be Touring Players on the circuit. They were invited to become ICNZ members and at the afternoon tea Valentina Ivanov and were given their badges by President Cecilie. Paige sent her apologies as she was hitting with Venus Williams at the time! Although still a Junior, Valentina’s ranking had slipped as she hadn’t played many Junior events so she needed to play in the qualifying event in Australia two weeks later. I asked new ICNZ member and Fed Cup Captain Neil Carter to write this: “Valentina Ivanov had an extremely successful Valentina & Erin looking pleased to be ICNZ members. stint back on NZ soil where she won the singles titles at the West End Cup, 18s National’s & NZ Residential’s plus beating to reach the 2nd round of the ASB Classic where she eventually lost to of the Netherlands. Schoofs’ current ranking on the WTA tour is 160. In the first set Valentina was competitive but lost an early service game to trail 2-4, from here she fought hard to level at 4-4 but the relentless pressure against a player who has consistently been ranked between 100-200 took its toll. From here the match was one sided but remains an excellent experience. Valentina and her coach Nathan Carter were lucky to get the opportunity to practice with Caroline Wozniacki throughout the tournament which provided them with a real insight as to the intensity level required to compete at the highest level. At the completion of the Classic Valentina returned to the training court to prepare for the Qualifying event at the Australian Open Juniors to be held in Traralgon. On arrival we were met with a 40 degree heat which saw a delay in play. After 2 days training in the heat Valentina played Dakota Fordham (USA) a player she dominated for the out- set winning 6-1 6-1. In the 2nd round Valentina was up against Polina Kudermetova (Rus) the 3rd seed. Kudermetova came out, hit winners from all areas of the court winning the first set 6-1, in the 2nd set Valentina lifted her game and forced her opposition into errors reversing the score from the first set. With a lot riding on the match the Rus- sian girl came out much the same way as the first set going up 2-0 before Valentina again found her rhythm and started to move her opponent around the court with excellent depth winning the final set 6-4 for a place in the main draw. In the main draw Valentina came up against (Tha) seeded 5 for the junior event. From the outset Valentina was under pressure from an opponent who had an unconventional game style which made it diffi- cult to counter. From a coach’s perspective this match was a lost opportunity as Valentina failed to produce her form of lead up tournaments causing her to lose a tight 4-6 4-6. In closing, the experience was most valuable leading into the tournament schedule to improve her current WTA ranking of 738!!”

Auckland ASB Classic follow up. Bianca Andreescu stunned Caroline Wozniacki and then Venus Williams after coming through Qualifying before losing the final in 3 entertaining sets to Julia Goerges. She then went to Australia where she again had to qualify by winning 3 rounds . She also won her first round singles before losing to the 13th seed Sevastova. As she was out by the middle weekend she flew to USA where she defeated American in the final of the Newport Beach WTA 125K event, earning the title of the No.1 female player from . During this event where she was seeded 6th, she beat former top Canadian in the quarter finals 6/2 6/2. These results have moved her from 152 to 68 in the space of a month …..we will all be following her progress from now.

8 Australian Open Snippets. Novak Djokovic gave a near perfect, quite overwhelming display to beat Rafael Nadal in the Men’s Final. Both their semi-finals had been decisive wins so the score of 6/3 6/2 6/3 in 2 hours and 4 minutes was unexpected. A new star emerged during the second week when 20 year old beat Roger Federer in 4 sets then continued his good form to beat Roberto Bautista Agut in 4 close sets. Stefanos is an interesting character, with an interest in photography which he says is a great hobby between matches. He is the youngest player ranked in the ATP top 20 and was the winner of the Next Gen Final played in Milan in November for the top 21 and under men. He played doubles with Artem Sitak in Toronto and Cincinnati in August last year. There is an interesting You Tube video about him training at the Mouratoglou Tennis academy if you are interested. I suggest you read the newsletter to the end and go back if you want to view these videos. Click here. (There is a small square at the bottom right side. If you click that it will make the video full screen. Tap it again at the end and it will go back to the smaller view.) And another Meet Stefanos Tsitsipas: The Greek teen who shocked Roger Federer Click here... (there may be a 15 second advertisement , just let it run then click the arrow.) This one has 2 short clips , less than a minute each, with a longer one near the bottom , after the text, if you want to see that too. ******************************************* New WTA Women’s No 1 Naomi Osaka bounced-back from a disappointing clay and grass season to take New York by storm, losing just one set en route to the US Open title, with wins over Serena Williams, Madison Keys, and Aryna Sabalenka, but she had a much more consistent time after winning her first Major. Naomi Osaka may just be 21-years-old, but her maturity has grown in spades since becoming the first Japanese player to win a singles major title. Osaka came into - where she was ranked No.72 twelve months ago - having made the semifinals or better at 4 of her last 5 events (US Open title, final, China Open semifinal, Brisbane semifinal). That consistency made her one of 11 eleven women who could leave Melbourne with the No.1 ranking. Two weeks later, she stands alone at the top of the women's game, the youngest active multiple major winner. Her win in the final against Petra Kvitova was an intriguing match. As it happened this year the 2 semi finals and final in the Women’s were much more competitive than the men’s. "Actually it wasn't winning those tournaments [that made me believe], it was after the US Open," Osaka said. "Because after Indian Wells I had this huge slump. And then I felt after I won the US Open I learned from that and I was able to do well in all the other tournaments. I think for me that was the biggest improvement mentally." "It felt really overwhelming. I didn't really think I would be in this position so soon again. So definitely I just had a lot of emotions." Her only complaint seemed to be that she forgot to smile during the start of the presentation!! Sponsors If you're wondering what was different this year, wine brand Jacob's Creek ended their association after 13 years with the Australian Open. As soon as players on the main courts won their match, 'Congratulations' was beamed on the digital hoarding, along with Mandarin Chinese. Court 2 has also been rebranded as 1573 Arena. But why 1573? The history of the distillery dates back to 1573 in the Ming dynasty, making it one of the oldest Chinese liquors still in production. Tennis Australia also hoped to bring more visitors from China to the tournament after the Australian Open experienced a rise of 48 per cent in foot traffic in 2018. 9 Blast from the Past

This photo is from 1957. 2 of our NZ IC February 2008 members are included in an IC team which IC Junior Challenge Winner played against Queen’s Club, our Patron Jeff Robson and the late Corbett Parker. Ben & Riki McLachlan holding the NZ flag on the Standing : R J Richie, J E Robson, C Parker, left. NZ fielded 2 teams as a R Mark, C Sproule, A R F Kingscote, strike stopped N Sharpe, R Emerson. coming. See Page 4 for Sitting: G Shea, N Kumar, H Flam, G Mulloy, Ben’s doubles ranking. N Fraser, A Cooper, M Anderson, R Krishnan

Drop Shots Former world No.1 Rafael Nadal will be getting married later this year after proposing to his girlfriend eight months ago, according to Spanish publication Hola! The 32-year-old has been in a relationship with Xisca Perello for 14 years, but the two keep a low profile from the media. Also known as Mery, Perello is a business graduate and insurance worker. She currently serves as the Director of Strategy and Relations with Institutions for the Rafa Nadal foundation.

Notice the bandages on Rafa’s fingers.

I usually have more Drop Shots bits and pieces, but this is long enough! Please make a note of the change of date for the AGM. Now Sunday May 19th. If you have any news or photos from around NZ or wherever in the world you are based please send them to [email protected] to keep everyone in touch. Also have a look at the video links on Page 9 to see how hard the training is for the players in the very small training windows they get, as well as the links on Page 6 to I C Philanthropy around the world. To read previous newsletters link to the IC Council website For the committee, Click the NZ flag on lower right, and then Noticeboard.

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