By Foster Niumata
Niki Tippins had the kind of father Mary Pierce, Mirjana Lucic and Jennifer Capriati will have wished they had.
There was no expression of support Gary Tippins did not think of giving his 22-year-old daughter, who is not yet quite in the tennis realm of Pierce, Lucic and Capriati,
but not for lack of trying.
Unlike the fathers of those three, Gary did not verbally abuse Niki or try to rule her life. He used to drive her to the courts, carry her bags, clap and cheer for her, be an ear to her joys and frustrations.
They talked every day. He from Timaru, and she from wherever she was playing in the world.
"My phone bills are huge," Niki Tippins said yesterday, smiling.
They won't be any more.
The day after Gary wrote to Niki to say he was proud of her no matter what, and that it was important to just go out and try your best.
He died, two days before Christmas. He was 49.
Gary and Niki's mother, Laraine, had not endorsed Niki's action when she cut short completion of her physical education degree a year ago to try out the WTA tour. But they were proud, like her, when the late-bloomer did better than expected to get her singles ranking above 700, and her doubles above 500.
Gary was there in Australia in November to be her one-man cheer squad, and at North Shore last month to see the new Auckland champion play in the New Zealand Residential final. Niki tried not to look at Gary, who was a bundle of nerves, but she was fortified by his presence.
"He tried to be everything, he tried his hardest - he was totally into my tennis, my biggest supporter," Tippins said.
She was back in Auckland training for the ASB Bank Classic last Wednesday, upholding the written wishes of her father, who was buried the day before.
Starting in the qualifying rounds, 696th-ranked Tippins, under-prepared and simply out to enjoy herself, upset 161st-ranked Karen Cross, of England, 7-5 7-5, as Fed Cup team-mate Shelley Stephens and Wellington's Nicola Kaiwai, an All-American player now at Pepperdine University, lost.
"I was just playing," Tippins said, as surprised as everyone else. Her previous best win was over someone ranked 470th. She tried to be as casual yesterday against 96th-ranked Emilie Loit, of France, another leftie like Tippins, but Loit was too forceful and won 6-0 6-1.
Loit, a compact 19-year-old who thinks aggressively, is among the vanguard of the French renaissance led by Wimbledon finalist Nathalie Tauziat, Sandrine Testud and a resurgent Julie Halard-Decugis.
In a year, their number in the top-100 has risen from eight to 13. Loit was ranked 281 a year ago and cracked the top-100 in November.
With a French Federation coach, she travels with three other top-100 compatriots, all aged around 20. Amelie Cocheteux (ranked 77) was also entered but withdrew with a pulled abdominal muscle.
Meanwhile, 1998 runner-up Silvia Farina, third seed Halard-Decugis, fourth seed Barbara Schett, eighth seed Maria Alejandra Vento and Opotiki's Rewa Hudson head today's action.
Hudson (351), who last year became the first New Zealander in five years to win a main draw match, is fresh off a month's break to face Labat (64), a 27-year-old Argentine, who made the semis in 1996.
Schett (27) is asked to break her Auckland duck against Elena Wagner (79), a singles semifinalist and doubles finalist in 1997.
By Foster Niumata
Niki Tippins had the kind of father Mary Pierce, Mirjana Lucic and Jennifer Capriati will have wished they had.
There was no expression of support Gary Tippins did not think of giving his 22-year-old daughter, who is not yet quite in the tennis realm of Pierce, Lucic and Capriati,
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