Shafted ....Rubin Statham Withdraws from Davis Cup

Welcome to the New Zealand shafted club Rubin. First of all let me say you being the Number 1 New Zealand ranked player you deserved the Wild Card for the Auckland event. I listened to to interviews today on Radio Sport, the First being Steve Johns CEO of NZ tennis. He continued the policy of the "I know nothing spin" on many of the questions put forward, yes he used all of his tennis background to waffle out answers with no substance. Mr Johns I challenge you to research the top 100 men tennis players and tell me how many are coached by the same coach! I know the answer by the way. You need to come to terms that tennis is an individual sport the sooner you stop herding players into the same sheep pen then you may have a path to get New Zealand players into the top 100.I agree some what with Statham that he has over achieved with the resources provided by TNZ to reach 340 or there abouts. Marcel Vos is not Statham's coach so its silly to employ and expect this guy to mentor Rubin outside Davis Cup. Support for any player should include there personal coach.I do not think Vos wiill produce a top 100 player.
Listening to Statham his relationship with Vos is poor .What was touched in the interview ,what is the correct pathway, should you play the weaker events to build your rankings or do you chase the harder events.He said this was some of the advice he is looking for.For my two cents worth chase the harder events, thats were the players will come from..chasing the weaker events you are surrounded by guys with the same goal and unfortunately same mentality.
Johns said how close TNZ and Tennis Australia were getting ...hey short memories we had Tennis Australia hold the top jobs before Johns! Clay courts ..ha no thats not the answer..match toughness is what you need by hiding at weaker tournaments and inflating your ranking and then only to find out your short..cmon look at your juniors playing ITF s yes good accumulation at lower end tournaments but they cannot cut it at the Grade 1 and Slam events. Its not because they do not get to play on clay,,its because of their mental games are fostered in a poor environment Yes good thinking we will have a base in Holland , well lets test these players closer to home like Australia and then if dominating there , look further a field.The trouble with players they are being led up the garden path by coaches who choose the easy path the cheap points path!
Rubin Good on you for standing up to the establishment ! what you need is support but we have to many coaches who do not have the "guts" to come out and have a say.The game is being run by tired Administrators some escaping their wife's at home making the state of the game worse than better.We have a TNZ board that has made some terrible decisions and implemented the wrong pathway.We have inexperienced people holding well paid positions,..Yes Rubin they make more than you do a year and do not work as hard.Now we have two Davis CUP coaches ...what a waste.If you care to read the recent job description you would make these assumptions "Note their is no requirement for a formal qualification in the description ie High Performance.So much for their accreditation system and mandatory complianceThere is no requirement for previous experience in this area. There appears also to be very little opportunity for the successful person to influence policy or make changes to a broken system. It appears the policy and structures are set and non negotiable.Did they canvas the players about this?The job description reads as if Tennis NZ have a "monopoly" on all junior tennis players in NZ no room for academies or independent coaches?There is only one path or oblivion which is where Rubin is right now or Australia like Sasha Jones..what was that TNZ and Tennis Australia are working close...well how did Sasha defect!Finally the successful applicant answers directly to Steve Johns CEO who has absolutely no experience or understanding from his surf life saving background. So who is ultimately making the calls here Sport NZ? My guess is Steve would not have a clue what an eastern backhand grip is let alone make calls on High Performance matters.
Rubin I have followed your tournament play and I believe you have done the best to your ability to what resources you have had...Yes Rubin you have been let down and I hope more people like you come to the fore to show how broke this game is in this country. I wish you luck as you continue to strive for personal best.

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