Tennis: Tale of two sports - close quarters, poles apart

It was hard not to think of rugby league, sitting in the stands watching perhaps New Zealand's best woman tennis player getting taken apart on Stanley St's No 1 court.

This was day one of the Auckland international women's tournament and, of course, involved the ritual removal of another New Zealand tennis hopeful from a tournament where the winners often speak halting English and the champion has not had a New Zealand twang for more than 40 years.

Kiwi Leanne Baker, who has battled back from glandular fever, and Austrian Barbara Schett, who has had to overcome a leaking heart valve, come from different ranking planets. Schett has been as high as seven and is now 23. Baker dreams of cracking the top 200.

Baker showed glimpses of promise and a bit of fight against No 2 seed Schett before wandering off in inevitable defeat, which is how you could sum up New Zealand tennis.

As Schett dealt with Baker's resistance by tweaking the sights so her thunderbolts had better effect, this particular mind wandered in the direction of nearby Carlaw Park.

As Baker struggled with more backhands and looked like someone batting bullets with a fly swat, it became easier and easier to remember the extraordinary array of talent that once paraded through the ranks of Auckland club rugby league.

It is an irony that tennis and rugby league's former home should be nestled so closely together beneath the Auckland Domain.

They are the chalk and cheese of New Zealand sport, sitting cosily together in downtown Auckland.

On one hand, rugby league: the working class game that has been embraced so brilliantly by the Maori and Island populations and a serious avenue to success for anyone with the necessary courage and skill. League in this country is all about talent and always has been. There are a host of New Zealanders in the ranks of the Australian competition, even if this country struggles to produce an NRL team that could win a chook raffle and the Kiwis are continually bashed by the Kangaroos.

On the other hand, tennis: often a plaything of the affluent, very white of skin, and a sport that has never spread its net much wider than necessary to keep the clubhouse painted and the nets in good shape.

You get the feeling that the handful of our world-rated players succeeded despite New Zealand, rather than because of it. To be blunt, we're hopeless at the game.

The obvious reason this country struggles to produce world-class tennis players is that it has never done enough to find the raw talent to work with. It has never truly opened its doors to one and all. Good coaching and management only go so far in top-class sport.

What you are looking for is that one-off genius willing to put the effort in, and to find that character you need a large net.

To get more specific, imagine what maybe Michael or Stacey Jones might have been like with a racket in hand. Has tennis really done its best to find raw talent like theirs?

The same question might also be asked of our cricket administrators. Cricket has usually been strongest in countries where it is a sport of the people, a la Australia, and, of course, the West Indies in their glory days. Yet it has always been tinged with elitism in this country.

At the tennis media conference yesterday, Baker talked about breaking into the world 200. Aucklander Ilke Gers wants to get below 100.

New Zealand sports fans will wish them all the best, but without holding their breath.