Tennis: Father gives up job for son's tennis career

Finn Reynolds

IT'S A HUGE sacrifice ... but Hawke's Bay's multiple national tennis champion Finn Reynolds has no regrets.

"I've got a fantastic opportunity and it's all about taking the next step," Reynolds said after his latest coaching session with Tennis New Zealand high-performance coach Marcel Vos in Auckland last night.

Reynolds, the winner of the national under-14 singles and doubles titles last month, and his father, Andy, moved to Auckland last week. They will be there for the next two to three years.

The move follows Reynolds' selection as one of four players in TNZ's Junior Targeted Athlete Programme. All four, who are under 15, have the potential to be ranked inside the top 150 players in the world in years to come.

While Year-10 student Reynolds has had to transfer from Napier Boys' High School to Rangitoto College, his father has left his job in Napier to support his son in the big smoke. The two are staying with relations in Auckland.

"Without that, the move would not have been possible," Andy said.

Reynolds, who beat Aucklander Te Kani Williams 7-5, 6-0 in his national singles final before combining with fellow Central representative Joshua Snowdon-Poole to win the doubles title, trains three times a week at the Millennium Institute of Sport. "I'm there from 6.45am until 8.15am. I then go to school and after school I'm on the court with Marcel from 4pm to 6pm. I see a lot of top sportspeople from other codes, like All Black Ma'a Nonu.

"It's great to be a part of that sort of set-up. Speed-work and agility is covered ... a good mix of stuff," Reynolds said.

Former Holland Junior Davis Cup player Vos, who has been in New Zealand since 1996, pointed out it was a long road ahead for Reynolds in his quest to go to the next level.

"But Finn shows great potential and a lot of the credit has to go to his Hawke's Bay coach, Simon Winter, and his parents who have done a wonderful job getting him to this position.

"Finn has great skills, he moves forward well and is very passionate about the game. The fact he is left-handed is a big advantage. Finn is willing to take things on," Vos said.

He said that by moving to Auckland Reynolds had the opportunity to be part of a more regimented programme.

"We can pay more attention to him becoming a better athlete as well as a better tennis player. Finn doesn't have a lot of weaknesses. We will improve his forehand and bring all of his shots up another level," Vos said.

Reynolds' brother, Robbie, won the national under-16 doubles title with Queenstown's Miki Nobuzawa. This week he played in an International Tennis Federation tournament in Wellington for under-18 players and won the singles consolation plate.

Tomorrow the brothers will play in qualifiers for an Auckland-hosted ITF tournament which will take up most of next week. Robbie's commitments out of the province this weekend mean he will miss his eagerly awaited clash with long-time Hawke's Bay No1 Luke Donovan when their respective teams, Team Bisson Moss and Team Tracta, clash in Hawke's Bay's premier men's teams competition at Napier's Onekawa courts today. Shane Wilson's Team Sainsbury Logan and Williams, Andy Reynolds' former team, will take on Andy Palliser's Team JP in the other fixture.

The Reynolds brothers aren't the only members of their family proving a handful for their on-court opponents. Their mother and former Hawke's Bay No1, Louise Reynolds, is the captain of one of three teams in contention for the title with three rounds remaining in Hawke's Bay's six-team premier women's teams competition.

Her Team JP side is two points behind Victoria Kerrison's Team PL in second place, four points ahead of Carole Rowsell's third-placed Team Tracta.

Kerrison joined the Reynolds brothers on the Bay's list of national champions this season. At the recent Tennis Senior New Zealand nationals in Nelson, Kerrison won the 60-plus singles title and the doubles title playing with Waikato's Sandy Tritt.