Tennis: Queenstown development looks to bring sweet harmony

While some of New Zealand's top tennis coaches can barely stand to be in the same room as each other, a swagger of coaches from overseas are avoiding the politics and are intent on tapping into the talent they say exists here.

Tennis in New Zealand has lurched from one political wrangle to another recently - Chris and Mark Lewis have had their differences with Bruce Derlin and Jeff Simpson and players pull out of the Davis Cup because of perceived slights against them - but a wind of change could be in the air.

Lan Bale, a South African who played for 11 years on the ATP tour and made the Wimbledon doubles quarter-finals with former Kiwi No 1 Brett Steven, is teaming up with former world top 10 Wayne Ferreira to attempt to build one of New Zealand's biggest tennis facilities.

While it's still in the planning stage, he's hoping to build a $5 million centre in Queenstown with four indoor and 12 outdoor courts in an effort to tap into the wealth of talent in this country.

"It will be a big asset for kids in the immediate area but it will also be a huge asset for tennis in New Zealand because it would be pretty easy to hold decent events down here," Bale said. "We're really excited about it, although it's still a way off from actually getting bricks in the ground. Hopefully in a year we might get that going."

In two years the coaching school he runs with former Otago representative Mark Milburn has grown from 40 children to more than 300.

Bale is best friends with the LA-based Ferreira, who is acting as a consultant along with GD Jones' coach Craig Tiley. He says he's received good support from Tennis New Zealand and being based in Queenstown means he's well removed from Auckland politics.

Someone who's a bit closer and is also trying to build up tennis stocks in the country is fellow South African Werner Venter. Venter has coached on the ATP tour and he's now teamed up with another South African, Gerritt Steenkamp, who was a top 500 player, to establish a coaching centre in Hamilton.

"We don't have a lot of politics here and we don't want to get involved in that," Venter said. "In places like Auckland, people need to check their egos and sort out their differences and start working together. It's about New Zealand, it's not about us as coaches."

Venter also has two American coaches on his staff along with Steenkamp's sister Mariska, who was a top South African junior.

Waikato has not been a traditional stronghold in New Zealand tennis but they enjoyed recent success against the likes of both Wellington and North Harbour under Venter's and Steenkamp's guidance.

Along with Bale and Venter, others like Deanne Alter (South Africa), Ross Murray (Scotland), Justin McGraw (Australia) and Pavelina Nola (Bulgaria) now live here.

While the likes of Shelley Stephens, Leanne Baker and Marina Erakovic have been performing on the women's and girls' circuit - Erakovic is the word's No 7 junior - the men's game is struggling. Mark Nielsen is New Zealand's No 1 with a world ranking of 543. The next best is Adam Thompson at 765 and then Rubin Statham at 1067.

The Lewis brothers have brought on some junior talent but a gap exists once they turn 18. In the end, it might just take a few Johnny Foreigners to turn things around.