Its Not Wimbledon ---Its Te Aroha

There are few Grass Courts left in New Zealand. The hard work in preparing the Courts is done by Owen Passau who is also President of The NZ Vets, Owen is pictured on the clubs ancient  Tractor.  The other photo shows the 8 Grass Courts during a tournament held this week. Mike Erceg the Clubs President and Club Coach Clem Apted have doubled the number of Juniors this season and are keen to make Te Aroha the centre of Tennis in the Piako Area. The club welcomes visitors so if you fancy a game on the Grass and excellent accommodation at Te Aroha Landing, just give Clem a call at 078844548.

Uncle Tony gives Rochus a Serve!

Rafael Nadal's coach and uncle Toni has branded Christophe Rochus an "imbecile" over comments he made regarding the French Open winner and doping.

Nadal has made a storming comeback after seven months out with a knee injury, beating Juan Martín del Potro in the Indian Wells Masters on Sunday, less than a month after his victory at the Brazil Open.

And following his nephew's success, Toni Nadal spoke out against Rochus.

He told puntodebreak.com: "Apart from being an imbecile, Rochus is just rude. He is a real imbecile because if you knew something, I think it would be right to say it. But knowing, as I think he must know, that Rafael has never taken anything in his life and never will, I find it incredible that an idiot like this can say what he said."

Rochus said in January: "The anti-doping controls are not rigorous, in my opinion, and they don't really prove anything.


"As for Rafa Nadal, they're just rumours, but everyone's asking the question: How can he be so strong at Roland Garros and then just a month later, apparently he's unable to play? That's what makes it sound suspicious, but we don't have any proof, of course."

He added it was "inconceivable" that players can play for five hours in hot temperatures and "still run like a rabbit" the next day. US Open champion Andy Murray described the 34-year-old's comments as "far from the truth".

Asked about anti-doping measures, Toni Nadal replied: "Anti-doping controls should be public and transparent, but I'm against the way it's carried out.

"I find it incredible and unpleasant that a professional player, just because he plays sport, can be treated like a criminal. Nevertheless, I am in favour of them imposing the strictest possible controls, because that's good - but with different ethics."

Divine Interuption Rafa Wins

The Pope and Del Potro have been the talk of Argentina but today Rafael Nadal ended the Argentinian's great run.... Del Potro's that is not the Popes!.Nadal showed what it meant to win here at Indian Wells falling to the ground after winning the final point.He was back to his fighting self coming back from 1 set  down and a break ,down early in the second.Nadal was able to get to Del Potro's backhand which is not as dangerous as the forehand side.It was great to see Del Potro nail Murray and Djokovic in this tournament and hopefully he can carry on.Nadals camp is smart and with this win he has withdrawn from Miami and no doubt will be back on clay for his next tournament. Rafa had lost 6 in a row Hardcourt finals and one wondered could he again get a major win on this surface.Del Potro is the guy most likely to press outside the top four. Berdych is always around but the top guys have his measure and Tsonga needs to get over the Berdychs etc to get a shot. Nadal to win has to work hard, he has to run , he has to hit a lot of balls.His style naturally takes it toll on the body and I think we will see a very strategic tournament program set. How will Djokovic handle his loss ?and Murray needs to get a move on.Federer well he is not going to get better ,he has peaked for sure and I am not sure he can press Rafa, Djoker or Murray in the big events but he is still better than the rest.Good to see you back RAFA.

Del Potro and friends in Final

Juan Martin del Potro Defeats Djokovic in Indian Wells to set up Final against Rafa. With the new Pope from Argentina it has been a big week for that country.

Picture of the Day- Federer has met his Match

Found this picture that's obviously been photo shopped , worth a post Well Done!

National Junior Teams Event a Positive but receives little support from TNZ.

One of the best events to aspire to for Juniors are the National Teams event.Sadly over the years it has lacked support from Tennis New Zealand. Regions such as Southern struggle to send teams  with costs to attend a 4 day event over 700.00 per player. TNZ used to allocate funding however I believe this has been dropped over the past couple of seasons.

I can tell you that a lot of juniors playing tennis have a goal to represent their region and this creates huge incentive to play tennis, attend tournaments and of course coaching.This event used to be played in January usually following a National tournament the powers that be decided to play the event in April.

 Team members played the National Tournaments and the 4s and 5s of the team received valuable experience by doing so and then competed in the teams events.To play the nationals now one has to play the event in January which is sometimes unaffordable,by having them back to back was sensible for players, coaches and parents.Ruthless coaches may not play their number 5 for the whole teams event making it questionable for parents to commit their child to such an expense with out playing a match!(in fact this week I had a parent seeking advice as their child would be going as NO 5)

How many players of the regions teams for April did not play the Nationals in January? The Southern region for a start is disadvantaged with distance and of course costs to attend.Should TNZ not see this as a priority to give something back to regions.

This is a big event and for a competitive junior who may not be seeking a College Scholarship or ITF junior tournaments its these our every day club player that needs support. I can tell you that over the years the keenest and hardest workers are the 3s 4s and 5s of a regional team but often its the NO 1s that dictate a team and often built around their commitments.I can tell you now that your Regional team is not how good your number 1 is but how good your number 4 is.

The other question is why am I the only person bringing this attention it deserves , its because a lot of regions and association have no backbone to ask and sadly TNZ have no vision in this area...they are too busy working on what time afternnoon and morning tea should be scheduled!

Do you not think isolated regions such as Southern deserve some help for their teams? Mismanagement lack of vision has certainly hurt regions such as Southern , if tennis was more of a higher profiled sport debacles like the Southern Region would make Headlines around the country.

This needs to be looked at urgently or this event will be just too expensive to attend and we will be losing players to other sports!

With Bernard Tomic it never Rains but pours.

INTERNATIONAL tennis ace Bernard Tomic has links to a man who loves to party with members of the notorious Bandidos outlaw motorcycle gang. 

Weeks after the Australian Crime Commission revealed increasing links between organised crime and professional athletes, The Courier-Mail can reveal Tomic has ties to the gang's Gold Coast chapter.

Tomic is close friends with Nelson Patea, a known associate of the club.

While The Courier-Mail is not suggesting Tomic is directly associated with the club, Mr Patea has a relative in the gang and his Facebook profile picture shows him standing beside Bandido national sergeant-at-arms John Fahey.

Police yesterday confirmed Mr Patea was associated with several club members who are also listed as friends on his Facebook page.

The page also contains pictures of Mr Patea partying inside the clubhouse with members who are in full Bandido colours.



Mr Patea and Tomic communicate through the social networking site. 

Friends have posted pictures of Mr Patea with Tomic's orange BMW before it was sold, and with the yellow Ferrari with "SinCity" number plates the tennis star was driving earlier this year.

Efforts to contact Tomic yesterday were unsuccessful and his manager Fraser Wright, of IMG, did not respond yesterday.

Bandido sources also refused to discuss the association, saying they "did not want to ruin his (Tomic's) career".

The link to the outlaw gang is another chapter for the controversial tennis star, who lost his driver's licence after a series of infringements, before he claimed people were "picking on him".

The connection comes days after Tomic stripped to his underpants while recording a video for YouTube at a tournament in Marseille.

Tomic was subsequently seen partying into the small hours at a players' function last week before retiring from his first-round match against Romanian Victor Hanescu at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships.

He retired in the opening set against Romanian Victor Hanescu, citing "a general illness".

Courier Mail.

When a 17 year old wins a challenger Tournament you should take notice.

I did let you know about this young Aussie but last week  Nick Kyrgios’ won the Nature’s Way Sydney Tennis International Challenger rising an incredible  229 places in the latest ATP rankings and vaulting him to 330th in the world.Just one month ago, Kyrgios was ranked No.843.