Tennis does well to reserve the first weeks of the new year for its showcase events even if sunshine is never guaranteed. Tennis Auckland's tournament director of the ASB Classics, Karl Budge, does a fine job of courting the best professionals hecan attract to the women's open this week and the men's next week. He is competing against several Australian cities to offer the players a venue where they can tool up their game for the year's first grand slam event in Melbourne.
The women's tournament has a particularly warm atmosphere. The Auckland association, helped by local tennis enthusiasts, has always treated the players to their choice of Auckland's best outings and entertainments at this time of year. On the court they find themselves playing to the clatter of cutlery and the clink of glasses with corporate hospitality at courtside.
Not all of the players come to Auckland with their minds focused only on Melbourne. For up and coming young professionals an ATP title is a career achievement and often a step towards the top. Two years ago Auckland saw a young American, Sloane Stephens, come from nowhere to win the tournament. In September she won the US Open. And not so many years ago on the same courts the men's tournament contained a promising Spanish teenager named Rafael Nadal.
Big names attract attention for the tournament and help sell its tickets. They must be worth their appearance fee even if they make an early exit. Certainly those who have bought tickets to see them are unlikely to be disappointed by the quality of tennis that remains. The professional ranks have strength to such depth that all players on the tour can produce stunning power and accuracy.
An astonishingly high proportion of them come from places such as Croatia, the Czech Republic and other parts of Europe that would not seem unusually blessed with playing conditions. It always raises the question, why has it been so long since New Zealand produced players at this level?
Lack of competition is the main reason. Europe, and to a lesser extent the United States, can provide young players with the best competition from a very early age. Champions have probably been hitting tennis balls since childhood. Any talented youngster from this country has to be taken overseas quickly to develop their game to international standard. Besides exceptional early talent, they need parents willing to invest time and money in them and as much sponsorship as New Zealand tennis can raise.
Even with all that, it is a hard slog to succeed on the circuit, playing qualifying tournaments most of the time, living out of a suitcase, trying to win enough to cover travel fares and cheap accommodation. All the players appearing at Auckland this week and next are among the few who succeed in breaking through to compete at this level. Watching them, appreciating the daily work required to compete at this level, there is no harm in continuing to hope a talented young Kiwi might find the means and inspiration to give us a champion one day.
