The summer season is well and truly underway and what Mother Nature keeps giving helps make up for what Omicron is taking. There have been many lovely evenings on court, as well as some very hot Sunday avos. Wed Club Night has been particularly buzzy and it’s great to have members enjoying a catch up and cold beverage up on the balcony after. Thank you for coming along, supporting your club and following all the Covid procedures for so long. Ka pai!
Club Champs- Game on!
Please save the following Sundays: 27th March- Singles, 3rd April- Doubles, 10th April- Finals
If we do indeed have any problems with rain, matches will be completed after Easter. Everyone is welcome and encouraged to give it a go. Please register your interest with Sally Geary (sallyg@orcon.net.nz).
Welcome to Yegor
You may have seen a new face about helping Head Coach Sergey. Yegor Nepokroty has come onboard as a Junior Assistant Coach. Yegor is originally from Ukraine and has lived in Auckland since 2019. He is a competitive tennis player with experience in ITF Futures tournaments. Welcome Yegor!
Court booking/use
Please remember to cancel your unwanted court bookings- even if inclement weather is involved. We need to keep records as accurate as possible. One member’s idea of poor weather is another’s idea of serving practice. Both Senior and Junior Interclub currently require significant court time on the weekends. Sometime matches finish early so you are very welcome to come down a check for a free court. We are very proud to not only have five Senior Interclub teams, but six Junior teams as well.
Ngaire Knightly Remembrance Gathering
Sunday 6th March 4-6pm after club tennis. Bring a nibble if you like and the bar will be open.
Senior Interclub
We have five teams entered into the shortened summer interclub competition: Men’s First Grade, Men’s Second Grade, Open Men, Ladies Singles & Presidents. Our ladies beat St Heliers in their first match of the season and the Men’s Second Grade team chalked up a win as well. Good luck to all teams for the rest of the season.
Davis Cup: NZ v Uruguay 5th-6th March NZT in Vegas baby!
This was meant to be a home competition, but what’s more fun as a second option than hitting sunny Las Vegas? In this World Group 1 play-off event the team will consist of Mike Venus and Artem Sitak on doubles, with Rubin Statham and Ajeet Raj on singles duty. Kelly Evernden serves as first-time Captain. The winner goes on to play in the World Group 1 September event and the loser drops down to World Group 2. Sadly, there is no live broadcast but you can keep up-to-date with scoring on the Davis Cup website. Stakes are high so here’s hoping the boys bring their aces. Let’s bet on a NZ win!
Billie Jean King Cup: 12th-16th April in Antalya, Turkey
Captain Marina Erakovic is currently putting together a team for this Asia/Oceania Group 1 event, with singles likely to be spearheaded by Paige Hourigan and our very own honorary member Valentina Ivanov (the elder of Head Coach Sergey’s two tennis dynamo daughters). Doubles specialist Erin Routliffe, who is at a career high WTA ranking of 33, is also onboard.
Erakovic commented, “It will be on the red clay in Antalya and we've got some pretty challenging teams, including China and Japan, which have some great players. Those countries have some depth but China and Japan haven’t had good results historically on red clay either. So, it's about adapting to the conditions. But at the end of the day, we have to adapt to what we can do.” Can’t wait to support the team with more details to come.
Please remember to like and follow us on Facebook. Member photos and news are always welcome. Now over to the website to get that court booked…