Tennis: No quick fix as cup crisis bites

By TERRY MADDAFORD

New Zealand tennis must forget the buzz words. Brand, stakeholders, initiatives, pathways and core values are not going to pull their game around.

Hard calls, harder work and some sense of unity might.

Stung by the biggest disaster in the 80 years since New Zealand lost their first Davis Cup tie 4-1 to Czechoslovakia, the national body has been thrown into damage control.

The fancy words included in New Zealand Tennis' 14-page glossy strategic plan will count for nothing until the egos and pettiness are volleyed out of court.

Perhaps not in the very top drawer, New Zealand's Davis Cup history is, nevertheless, littered with commendable results highlighted by the 1982 journey to the semifinals where they bowed out 3-2 to France.

Somewhat ironically, that four-man team were Chris Lewis, Bruce Derlin and Russell and Jeff Simpson.

Now, it seems, the friendships of those halcyon days, have been stretched to, and maybe beyond, breaking point.

New Zealand are now consigned to an Asia/Oceania Group 2 home tie against world 67th ranked Kazakhstan in March.

Lewis' scathing attack on Derlin after the 3-2 loss to Pakistan in Islamabad this week underlined the problem tennis bosses have wrestled for years.

There are no friends in the dog eat dog world of tennis coaching.

Around 150 people in New Zealand derive most, if not all, of their income from coaching tennis.

Individuals, or small groups, trained by coaches chasing dollars and their ticket to the big time.

No problem in parents paying to have their kids instructed. Swimmers tread the same path. So do young golfers. But therein lies the problem.

Poor little rich kids get every chance while those from the other side of the tracks are left to struggle.

Some years ago Brian Fairlie, who, at 17, remains the country's youngest Davis Cup player and who went on to be one of the most successful, turned to coaching. Not for long.

He was seen as "too strict". Parents cried off, dragging their kids with them.

Others have tried their hand.

National representatives including Glenn Wilson, Jeff Simpson, Steve Guy, David Mustard, Onny Parun, Mark Lewis and, in the US, Kelly Evernden have worked, or continue to work, with promising players. With mixed success.

All are competent players who have since found themselves at odds with the system or simply walked away.

Brett Steven, New Zealand's last recognisable name on the ATP circuit, has, commendably, remained silent as the house of cards has collapsed.

Looking from the outside in, he quickly identified the problems. Just as quickly, he contended there was no quick fix.

Coaching can only do so much.

Asked about his part in the spat in Islamabad which threatened to derail the tie, William Ward said: "I need funding. Not coaching. Chris Lewis has been great for me."

Rising star Marina Erakovic is of the same mind.

Others have gone offshore - many to the US college circuit. Results, again, at best mixed.

Funding is important but can achieve only so much.

Ability and coaching remain the key. And guts and determination.

A few years ago, New Zealand Tennis promoted a national league. With its one-set format it was only partially successful but it did fill a void.

These days the best play at age group level and, later, in the New Zealand Residentials. But little else.

Auckland's Caro Bowl interclub competition attracts players but, by and large, for the money rather than the tennis.

At several clubs it is seen as a social occasion. Tennis is secondary.

New Zealand Tennis chief executive Don Turner admits the gap between interclub and something meaningful is huge.

Closing that might help prepare our better players but it will not be the all-encompassing answer.

Sorting out the off-court bickering and replacing that with a well-devised coaching programme might be a better bet.