Tennis New Zealand is proud to announce the following players to represent New Zealand at the Junior Davis Cup and Junior Fed Cup Asia/Oceania Qualifying Finals competitions in 2010.

Junior Davis Cup

1. Andrew Van der Vyver (Waikato/Bays)

2. Cameron Norrie (Auckland)

3. Adam Gage-Brown (Waikato/Bays)

Team Captain / Coach – Alistair Hunt

Junior Fed Cup

1. Leela Beattie (Canterbury, below)

2. Emily Fanning (Canterbury)

3. Monica Chen (Auckland)

Team Captain / Coach – Angela Swinkels

The Asia/Oceania Qualifying Finals events will take place in Kuching, Malaysia, with the Junior Davis Cup team to play from 19 – 24 April and the Junior Fed Cup team from 26 April to 1 May at the Sarawak Lawn Tennis Association Centre on hardcourt. The events include 16 nations from the Asia/Oceania region, from as far afield as Uzbekistan, with teams competing for a place in the Finals held later in the year.

Check the Tennis New Zealand website for regular updates on how our teams are progressing through their respective Asia/Oceania Qualifying Finals events.

Oliver ‘Mikal’ Statham (above) has progressed through to the doubles quarter-finals at the US$10,000 ITF Men’s F3 Futures event in Kofu, Japan. (That's the city and its attendant volcano in our Issue Image, top right).

Statham and his American partner Maciek Sykut (third-seeded) won their first round doubles match against Akito Higa and Masato Hatanaka, both from Japan 7-5 5-7 10-8.

In the second round, they face local player team of Takuto Niki and Fumiaki Kita.

Click here for the whole story.

NZ juniors at ITF Champs in Nagoya

A good start for NZ juniors at the Dunlop Japan Open Junior Championships 2010 in Nagoya, Japan!

After receiving byes in the first round, all juniors played their second round singles matches yesterday (Wednesday).

Auckland’s Adam Lee had a tough match but won against Yoshihito Nishioka (JPN) 4-6 7-5 6-2. His opponent in the third round will be fifth-seeded Jeson Patrombon (PHI).

Second-seeded Kiwi Ben McLachlan (above) defeated qualifier Genki Hosoya (JPN) 6-1 6-1. In the third round, he faces twelve-seeded Joey Swaysland (AUS).

Click here for the whole story.

The HEAD Chelsea Cup final was played last Friday at the Albany Tennis Park.

Northcote had won more Mens titles (10) than any other club in the competitions history and were looking to make it four in a row on Friday night, but a strong Belmont team, looking for their first title in 26 years, had other plans.

Milford had won the Women’s trophy four times, including the inaugural event in 1982, whilst Campbells Bay had won it twice, the last being in 2006. With three players inside the NZ top ten Campbells Bay were favourites to take the title, but with Milford having three of their own inside the top twenty it promised to be a match of the highest calibre. Despite finishing second to Milford after the first seven rounds Campbells Baydominated from the outset and never looked back.

Congratulations to 2010 HEAD Chelsea Cup Winners Belmont and Campbells Bay!

Click here for the whole story.

Remuera Classic a great Success!
The Remuera Classic tournament, held over two weekends was a great success, and attracted players from far and wide. The competition also saw some great young talent coming through! 

Click here for the full story on the Tennis NZ website.

The New Zealand Women's Weekly features a great story about Marcus Daniell, with the angle of how his relationship with girlfriend Jesse Smith (who is a competitive netball player) survives his time travelling on the world tennis tour.

Click here for the whole story. Homepage photo courtesy of the NZ Women's Weekly.

Marcus has also provided us with these fascinating blogs about real life as an emerging travelling professional tennis player. As you can see, it's not all easy!

12 – 28 March - China

China is far, far from what I expected.

I thought I was coming to a country where communism meant everyone was friendly to each other, everyone was relatively innocent, and everything was orderly and proper.

Wow… I was wrong!

On the 4 hour drive from Kunming Airport to Kaiyuan, we passed at least 5 accidents. When we were 10 minutes from Kaiyuan, an accident closed up the whole road, meaning those 10 minutes took 90. Not pleasant being at a standstill when you’re that close to the city and absolutely ravenous!

Click here for the whole story.

The 2010 Fiji Open and Veterans Championships will be held at the Denarau Golf and Racquets Club on Denarau Island near Nadi from 26 to 30 May. Synthetic grass and natural grass courts will be used for the tournament.

Besides the Open championship there is a wide range of events for seniors (veterans) from 35+ to 65+, a junior event for 16/u and social doubles events for the less competitive players. The tournament is one of the longest standing events in the Pacific having started over 100 years ago and guarantees everyone good tennis and a great social time. There are special hotel rates available at the Sheraton Hotel which is just across the road from the courts.

Entries close on 15 May. Entry form can be downloaded from the Oceania tennis  website http://www.oceaniatennis.com/style/index.php and further information can be obtained from tournament director John Shannon by email to otfagm2007@yahoo.com.au

Click here for the Entry Form.

2011 Australian Grand Slam
Coaches Conference: Save the Data!

The 2011 Australian Grand Slam Coaches Conference will be held in Melbourne at Hisense Arena, 13-15 January 2011.

For further information please click here or contact coachesconference@tennis.com.au

The Clubhouse News

The Clubhouse News, the monthly Canterbury Tennis Newsletter, has been released.

Inside this issue: Anthony Wilding Booklet, Winter Mid Week Ladies Competition, Player’s Handbook, Community Coaches Course, Talent ID Session, Assistant Junior Coach Course and Coach Education.

Click here for the whole Newsletter.

Will marrying Shoaib Malik revive Sania Mirza's career?

Here's a bit of tasty sporting-world gossip, from the florid prose of a Mumbai-based news website:

"The 92nd-ranked Indian tennis star, still recuperating from a career-threatening wrist injury, will tie the knot in April, not even a month after the announcement which has sent Indo-Pak media in a tizzy!"

Click here for the whole story.