Perfect has often been a word to describe the backhands and forehands of Hawke's Bay tennis representative Rob Reynolds in recent seasons.
But this week the word perfect has been used to describe his timing. That's the timing of his departure to Germany which allows him to play for the Eastern team in this weekend's Waikato Bays Rose Bowl Quadrangular at the Greendale club.
Originally it was thought the February triangular which saw Eastern beat Taranaki and Manawatu would be Reynolds last outing in provincial colours before he travelled to Europe to begin his quest to become a professional player.
"Yes this weekend is a bonus. I was perfect timing because I'm coming home for 10 days training in the Bay to get fit and ready for my trip to Germany," Reynolds explained as he drove home from Auckland last night.
"This week has been a big week of coaching as I've had my last lessons with my juniors," Reynolds said referring to his coaching role at the Cockle Bay club which he has had since July last year.
"I'm just looking forward to playing some tennis after all that coaching."
A Hawke's Bay Lawn club player, Reynolds, 20, knows the standard of play this weekend will be a big step up from the triangular as the Waikato Thames Valley team boasts a couple of players with the same S2 grading as him and the Western Bay of Plenty and Bay of Plenty side's No 1s are also close to his grading.
"I'm expecting some tough matches. Waikato have a couple of brothers who are strong players and there are a couple of unknown potential threats in the other teams. Just before Christmas in the Te Anau Open was the last time I had some hard matchplay," Reynolds said.
That tournament catered for the country's top eight players and Reynolds finished sixth. Earlier this season Reynolds reached the quarterfinals of the singles at the New Zealand championships and he and his brother Finn were beaten in the doubles final - the highlight of his career to date.
In Germany he will be based in Bremen where he will start in their second or third tier interclub comp.
"It will be a good opportunity to make some money. There's a lot of ATP ranked players in the competition and our No 1 player is ranked 200 on the ATP world rankings. I will aim to work my way into the top-tier interclub comp and after interclub play I intend to tackle some Futures tournaments on the men's professional circuit."
Reynolds will play with current and six-time Hawke's Bay residentials singles champion Luke Donovan of the Greendale club in doubles play. National seniors 45-plus singles champion Craig Giddy, his Hastings clubmate Rynold Timothy and Greendale's Alby Hailes complete the Eastern men's line-up.
Timothy and Hailes will be making their debuts for Eastern. Timothy is a regular training partner of Giddy and pushed Donovan in the semifinals of last year's residentials.
Hawke's Bay's current women's residentials singles champion Jane Wyllie of the Greendale club will be Eastern's No 1 woman. Seeded below her are Central Hawke's Bay's Fiona Tyler, Hawke's Bay Lawn's Barbara Baker and Greendale's multiple New Zealand representative at World Seniors level Victoria Kerrison.
Eastern team:
Men: Rob Reynolds, Luke Donovan, Rynold Timothy, Craig Giddy, Alby Hailes.
Women: Jane Wyllie, Fiona Tyler, Barbara Baker, Victoria Kerrison.