Welcome to Festival Of Tennis
It is crucial that each sport have a governing body to ensure smooth operations in the industry. New Zealand tennis falls under the watch of Tennis New Zealand which also goes by TNZ or Tennis NZ. When the body first came to be in 1886, it was known as the New Zealand Lawn Tennis Association and was one of the first associations of its type. Times have changed and so has the sport and this led to the introduction of new practices and a change in name. This governing body does not operate on its own, and it has affiliations to the Oceania Tennis Federation and the International Tennis Federation.
Together, these associations work towards improving the practices in the sport to make players lives more comfortable over time. They also oversee competitions to ensure that the methods in place are fair to all participants. TNZ has six regional centers for ease of operation, and they span across a wide geographical area. In this way, the organization can monitor the activities of national tennis teams which it oversees. Some of the clubs under its hold include the New Zealand Fed Cup team and the New Zealand Davis Cup team.
Other than heading these teams, this body also works at organizing tennis tournaments in New Zealand as well as hosting them. In this way, they get to nurture the talents of tennis players in the country as the body sources for more people to join the industry. They also promote the sport such that players can get more support. The body also works at training the players for international games and scheduling matches abroad. It thus has a broad spectrum of activities to undertake for the smooth workings of the tennis industry.
Find Everything Related To Tennis in New Zealand
ASB Classic
This event name encompasses both the Women’s WTA Auckland Open and the Men’s ATP Auckland Open competitions. Take a look at what they have to offer.
Local Tennis
There is ever something exciting taking place in the local tennis scene in New Zealand, owing to the many participants in the sport.
Grand Slam
The grand slam tournaments also go by the name majors, and they are the most significant events in terms of visitors, prize funds & popularity for tennis betting among all tennis competitions.
All-time Best Players
New Zealand has had quite a role to play in the developments in the sport and here are some people with significant contributions on the same.
Coaching Development Program
Coaching is an essential aspect when it comes to any sport as it helps players develop their abilities in the field under the watchful eye of the coach...
Greatest Tennis Records
The Open Era has had many records set and broken over the years. Here are some of the outstanding achievements as from the year 1968.
How did it all begin?
Tennis has not always been what we see today, and there were times when racquets were not in the scene. With the changing of the gameplay came the need for more structure in the sport and as such, associations began to crop up. These developments began towards the late 1870s and continued into the 1880s.
New Zealand got to host their very first tennis tournament in 1886, an event which took place at Hawkes Bay. The reception was excellent, and it thus saw the formation of the New Zealand Lawn Tennis Association in December that year. Soon afterward, this organization got affiliated with the Lawn Tennis Association of England. The years went by, and the love for the game grew, thus bringing more people into the industry. In 1904, this body joined six others from Australian states, and together, they formed the Lawn Tennis Association of Australasia.
With the merging of these associations, the sport grew stronger and bigger championships came onto the scene. The Australasia Men’s Championships paved the way for the Australia Open in 1905 which remains to be one of the biggest tennis matches to date. At first, the tournament took place at Warehouseman’s Cricket Ground. Soon after its success, all participating associations agreed that both New Zealand and Australia would host the event. As such, New Zealand got to host the game twice, in Christchurch in 1906 and Hastings in 1912.
Though the Australasia tournaments were doing well regarding turnout and the number of participants, these venues proved to be remote to other countries. As such, it was hard for foreign countries to participate in the competitions. When New Zealand held the tournament in 1906 at Christchurch, only two Australian players were able to make the event, and a New Zealander walked away as the winner.
In 1913, more changes took place in the tennis industry. In a meeting held in Paris, the Lawn Tennis Association of Australia alongside eleven other such bodies came up with the International Lawn Tennis Federation. New Zealand and Australian players got to play as one under the term Team Australasia for a long time. However, there were many attempts to do away with this partnership so that New Zealand players could stand on their own and thus work toward representing their country in the sport. Efforts to do so finally succeeded and in 1922, New Zealand broke away.
The New Zealand Lawn Tennis Association got affiliation to the International Lawn Tennis Association a year later. Thus, New Zealanders were able to participate in international matches in their rights. TNZ then went on to be part of the key players in the formation of the Oceania Tennis Federation in 1993. This association has come a long way in establishing New Zealand’s position in the sport and thus deserves recognition on the same.
Management - Tennis New Zealand
This body works through the contribution of various people, and it currently consists of the following members: CEO, chairman, head of coaching, performance director, operations manager, finance administration, IT support, participation manager, coaching development manager, communications officer, national coach and programme coordinator.
It works using a constitution which they developed in 2006. In the rules, the roles of the organization fall into: promoting tennis in the country, cultivating talent in the field, finding ways in which they can enhance the sport and protecting it. In this way, tennis players have an assurance that someone is looking out for them.
At present, there are six regional centers in its operations. These centers are free to formulate practices and activities so long as they fall in line with the national body’s goals. The centers are in Albany, Dunedin, Wellington, Auckland, Christchurch and Hamilton East. Thanks to the spreading out of the association across the country, TNZ can reach more players and can thus monitor activities on a full scale.
There are tons of matches which take place under the watch of the TNZ. They include the A SB Classic which takes place once the tennis season begins and the Tennis Auckland events which take place before the start of the Australia Open.
