Is Tennis in this Country Going Down the Drain

It's such a pity that a great sport like tennis is in the 'crap' in this country. There really isn't anything that's positive. Where have all the Coaches gone?, this week I was in Thames and we went to have some Fish and Chips, and were served by Andrew Beattie , once a top Kiwi Tennis player and an excellent coach, why would he prefer Fish to Tennis ?. Obviously Andrew is not the only loss,where is Chris Lewis, David Lewis?, the list goes on.

The reason is obvious, incompetent leadership from NZ Tennis, incompetent people being replaced by equally incompetents.  These people are funded by Clubs and their members throughout NZ, why aren't the clubs and members vocal, why aren't more Coaches more vocal, lack of courage is the reason.  There are" many brown noses "that see the in competencies but will not speak up in fear they might loose some small favours that NZ Tennis dishes out.

All over the country we see really good coaches being victimised by Administrators both at Club level and Provincial level, coaches with criminal convictions have been employed at some clubs and endorsed by NZ Tennis. Just how many Coaches are registered?, how many unregistered Coaches are given work by NZ Tennis ?, what is the point in being registered, besides a discount on Addidas sunglasses .

There is not one NZ born player in the top 300 in the world, why? What does NZ Tennis do to help Coaches?, nothing! Now enough of the negativity , help is at hand with the formation of a new Coaches organisation, new in NZ, but well established in Australia, and well respected a breath of fresh air to all Coaches in this country, enthusiastic men and women who love the game, and who are determined to resurrect the Sport in NZ, Look up the Web Site and you will see there is hope,  An optermistic Coach,

*this was submitted by a passionate tennis coach *

Life not Easy Outside the Top 100 Male Tennis Players

I'm a professional tennis player. I live in Melbourne and my world ranking is 256. I returned home yesterday from the US Open, where I was the first alternate for the qualifying draw. Had I made it, my prizemoney would have covered my flights, and maybe a couple of nights in the hotel. Instead, I have just added another hefty amount to my bloated credit card bill.

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/sport/tennis/diminishing-returns-when-you-play-in-the-red-zone-20120827-24wmm.html#ixzz24mn48CFO

Great story above on what life is like for most of the tennis players on the Tour.Check it out!

Do New Zealand readers watch the TV show the Block? former National Ranked junior Sarah Adams appears with her partner as one of the teams!!!

New Zealander 's may remember Russian Junior Tanya Somodelok,she was in New Zealand for long periods around the age of 10 and eleven she showed great maturity in her game at a very young age.New Zealand tried very hard to get her citizenship.In a women's event in MEXICO last week she came up against New Zealand Junior Emily Fanning, both girls are around the same age the Russian slightly older.Somodelok has played very few Junior ITF's whilst Fanning has played more than her fair share. So it was with interest the result for comparison..the Russian winning a second round match 7/5 6/1.This was a 10,000.00 Women's event.Somodelok was beaten in her next match.She has a career high ranking of 1142.

No qualifying was held so if you are looking for some events to get an easy berth to the Maindraw look at Mexico.The eventual winner was around 480 in the world.

The Best Kept Secret In New Zealand Tennis was let out of the bag yesterday.

 A Statement from the CEO of the Australasian Academy of Tennis Coaches

 My name is Lynton Joseph and my current role is that of CEO of the Australasian Academy of Tennis Coaches Pty Ltd. Our headquarters are located in Melbourne, Australia and we have been working closely with some well respected High Performance Coaches in Mr Stephen Dries and Mr Michael Mooney. We have been meeting three times a week through Skype as well as through email and telephone. This has all culminated in a visit to Christchurch this month to finalise AATC’s move into New Zealand to work with current coaches as well as provide an educational opportunity to for trainee and aspiring coaches. We currently have close to 150 members in Australia as well as Malaysia, Hong Kong, India, Pakistan and Singapore. We deliver courses Australia wide as well as in Asia and working with New Zealand only gives both countries an opportunity to network and develop tennis in our respective communities. Stephen Dries and Mike Mooney are both New Zealand based and are more than qualified to deliver our Level O, Level 1 and Level 2 Tennis Coach certification courses on behalf of the AATC. They are both current Level 3 Elite Professional Coaches with the AATC and are held in the highest regard. Onny Parun, former Australia Open finalist and arguably New Zealand’s greatest tennis player has come on board as the patron in New Zealand. This time should be seen as an exciting time for New Zealand tennis. The market is being deregulated and potential coaches are given the option to make a choice. I am personally flying into New Zealand to work with Stephen and Michael as they set up this company. We have set up an open forum with the coaches in New Zealand to listen to the their issues in order to meet their ongoing needs. The AATC in New Zealand will be independently administered by an independant New Zealand Board. Of this, two members will be eligible to sit on the AATC Board in Australia .

 New Zealand Great Onny Parun is our Patron in New Zealand and he had this to say "This new group of independant coaches was formed due to the lack of support and protection from NZT. As Patron I applaud this brave stance and wish them the best of luck in this new endeavour.----Onny Parun

This Independent group was formed to raise the standards in coaching qualifications and unite tennis coaches so they have a voice in their industry something that has been lacking here in New Zealand. You make up your mind which supermarket you shop at and its your choice where you shop at no one has the right to dictate and now with the AATC there is a choice,competition is healthy and as we are all working for the common goal to foster tennis an Independent Coaches group is vital.

CHECK OUT THE AATC WEBSITE WITH THE NEW ZEALAND SITE PENDING CLICK HERE

Tennis Turmoil

This story was sent to me by Clem and Mike who spent three months researching .Email trails and a very damming voice tape of a meeting was obtained.I have posted it simply to show the lack of ethics and professionalism that is surfacing in the coaching world and the admin departments in charge of running the game.Below is their researched story of events.

This story begins in two very different places at opposite ends of the world A sleepy town in Central North Island called Taupo and New York City USA

Mark an American Coach apparently was the answer to a prayer from a tired Club president and a sleepy program in need of CPR.She wanted to hand on the coaching duties. Mark had just sent out several hundred CVs around the world from his New York base of his national Academy, looking for someone to bite and bite they did.

The CV we are not sure ended up in Auckland passed on to someone in tennis circles who passed it on to Waikato Bays Tennis CEO. She knowing of the soon to be freeTaupo position passed it on to her friend the President of the Taupo club. All seemed Ok!

The two were life time friends and together they contemplated Mark 's surreal CV He seemed to be to good to be true and in keeping with that adage he was.

It appeared Mark was a conman had a criminal record and had an ego almost as large as his fraudulent CV. Mark had sparkling qualifications which to anyone familiar and remotely acquanted with the game should run up the red lights.

However this was so good that the President and CEO neglected to tell the committee at Taupo what they were doing.Correspondence clearly shows no communication or authorisation appears to have been given Clearly this was a surprise such a coup for Taupo and Waikato Bays.

There was heavy email traffic between between Mark The President and CEO We have this traffic courtesy of Mark himself Marks PHD in sports science his Freshman tennis player of the year status in his conference and many glowing awards and University accreditations blinded the two to his poor diction and spelling in his flawed e mails

Mark got the position and there is no record of the position being advertised although this may have happened, it was not picked up. This is naturally a requirement of Immigration that the position must be advertised for a NZ resident coach. It appears most likely that his CV was vetted by the CEO of Waikato Bays and probably Coach Co Ordinator at NZ Tennis initially and then again later when the alarm went off.

Marks application was put through the New York office and would need support from TNZ and or Regional body and Taupo It also appears it may not have been the normal two year permit required under skilled Immigration as the contract was for only 6 months This to is a problem and Mark is not the only foreigner probably employed on an invalid tourist visa in this way.Nor is the the only unqualified foreign coach to get a top position here.

This all happened from July August 2011 Mark finally arrives late Oct /Nov 2011 A large article appears in the Taupo Paper announcing the arrival and how fortunate Taupo was to have someone who had a CV of such qualityThe club had set aside money a retainer of $1,000 per month. This very well may have been public money as the club would seem to be unable to finance a coach in this way.

It became apparent immediately on Marks arrival that something was very wrong Mark had erratic behaviour often putting his hand down his pants while in company

It became clear Mark could hardly play and he was being groomed for grass hopper tennis. It was confided to us that the previous coach had no qualification and it became more likely that neither did Mark.

Panic set in Mark worried his host and was jettisoned to another unsuspecting host who was later to send her kids out of town due to her justifiable fear of Mark and his erratic behaviour. Mark would wait up all night betting on American football games. His money went on gambling and had the drug oxycontin in his possesion ...a percription drug when the tablets are melted down and inhaled it is called Hill Billy Heroin.

We know this through correspondence passed on to us. It was clear to this person Mark was in need of serious help and was a compulsive liar. Marks new host believed at first Marks hard luck story how he was misunderstood and poorly treated He was not paid for work as outlined in his contract We have a copy This is actually true.

The CEO was asked to come and observe Mark She was along with The Coach CoOrdinator at TNZ the two most responsible for providing Marks unvetted ride into the country.

NZT Coach Co Ordinator said his CV seemed alright obviously no phone calls or emails were sent checking his CV. Waikato Bays CEO came and personally witnessed Mark give a lesson to an adult lady.

Finally it became obvious they had a dud and more important an embarrasment to them all. A criminal record was uncovered by a policeman and by his second host

Mark was sacked Then when it seemed it could not get worse it does

Read next week cover ups and pay offs

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Rain And More Rain in Timaru

Well tennis coaches must keep busy so I photoshopped this today ,let me say miserable weather in the South Island of New Zealand. I am putting up some story's on my blog over the next few days you could describe them with an old Movie Title , Sex , Lies And Video Tape ....well the Lies and the videotapes are correct :)

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Serena Adds Singles Olympic Gold

The Serena show rolls on!

"I always wanted to win a gold medal (in singles) secretly," she said Saturday shortly after dismissing Russian Maria Sharapova 6-0, 6-1 on the same grass where she won the Wimbledon title last month, "and I've always said it doesn't matter because I already have a gold medal (in doubles), and I really believe that. But deep, deep, deep, deep down I wanted it in singles as well."

This was the one major title that had been missing on her résumé. Williams owns 14 Grand Slam singles championships, the most of any active woman. She had won the Olympic gold medal in doubles with her sister Venus in 2000 and 2008, but not the gold in singles. She and Venus will play for a third doubles gold Sunday.

"It's such an amazing feeling. I got it," she said. "I can't compare. I have it, I have them all so it's great feeling."

The stage had been set for drama. The Olympic gold medal match. Williams vs. Sharapova.

The last time Sharapova defeated Williams in a singles final came at this court at the 2004 Wimbledon Championship final. Both players Saturday were chasing career golden slams, a sweep of the four major titles and an Olympic gold.Serna also won Gold with Sister Venus in the Ladies Doubles final.

Read more at ONTD: http://ohnotheydidnt.livejournal.com/70889204.html#ixzz22camTGWq

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Top 50 WTA Age percentages

As promised here is the Female Breakdown.The youngest inside the top 50 is 20 yrs. and the oldest is 32yrs.Some standout  men's and female stats, The largest group of players in the women are the 22-25 age groups which is around 50%.Whilst the the men is around 27% for the same age groups.In the female 26,27,28 has around 20%Whilst the men same age group brackets is around 38%.Ages 29-30 in the female runs around 18% and the men about 17%. In the 31+  Female there is just one player the men run around 9%. Men are playing longer .It shows clearly that female  peak earlier than male counterparts.

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Top 50 ATP Men / Age percentages

Roger Federer at 30 is the Number 1 ranked Male.Women Tomorrow
quote of the day and soon to be breaking news

Something is rotten in the state of Denmark"

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Kids from Kerephei Primary School/Olympic Tennis

Thanks again for the pics from Piako Coach Clem Apted[ based in Te Aroha.] Clem worked with Waikato Sports to introduce kids [ from district schools] to Sports played at the Olympics these kids are from Kerepehi Primary School.

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A good assessment of Tomic

I came across an article on the net about Aussie Bernard Tomic. Its a pretty good assessment and this is what some of the article had to say


"Tomic has barely had to lift a finger during his short career. He achieved immense success in juniors solely down to his natural talents – slicing, dicing and reading opponents like a book without bothering to properly construct points. The success in juniors brought immense hype and self-hype which led tournament directors to toss a never-ending stream of wildcards in his direction (he received 10 wildcards in his first 15 tournaments of 2011) which were treated with arrogant indifference by Tomic as he only really put effort into the main events while tanking the rest. Finally, it’s all coming back to haunt him. His talent has fallen in place only a handful of times over the past eighteen months, while for the most part the ATP tour has been quite the culture shock. His weaknesses are being effortlessly exposed at all levels and the tactics he utilized so much in juniors are unsurprisingly laughably ineffective against professional tennis players. "Read the full artice here and check out some of the other posts by this contributor.LINK


Coming soon The American Coach who was not what he seemed  and how the vetting system of a club and association and National body of coaches was a complete farce.

New Kids on the Block Update -Who has made on the Pro Tour From Junior ITFdays

In 2008 I wrote an Article called New Kids on the block.It Listed the top 20 Junior Boys and Girls ITF junior World rankings. I thought it would be a great exercise 4 years on to have a look at that list and see where they are on the Pro Tour Present day 2012.Here is the link to the previous article Eye of The Tiger: New Kids on the Block. Lets look at the 2008 Boys rankings first.

1 YANG, Tsung-Hua TPE 21 2012 164

2 TOMIC, Bernard AUS 19 45

3 BERANKIS, Ricardas LT 22 148

4 DIMITROV, Grigor BUL 21 69

5 RAMIREZ, Cesar MEX 22 430

6 KONTINEN, Henri FIN 21 528

7 PEREIRA, Jose BRA 21 415

8 CUNHA, Henrique BRA 22 1383

9 HARRISON, Ryan USA 20 48

10 GOFFIN, David BEL 21 59

11 AREVALO, Marcelo ESA 21 411

12 JANOWICZ, Jerzy POL 21 109

13 VAZQUEZ-VALENZUELA, Juan ARG 21 697

14 GRIGOROV, Alexei RUS 22 1056

15 STEBE, Cedrik-Marcel GER 21 82

16 BHAMBRI, Yuki IND 20 220

17 KLAHN, Bradley USA 21 661

18 RUFIN, Guillaume FRA 22 142

19 SIRIBUTWONG, Peerakit THA 21 754

20 KUZNETSOV, Andrey RUS 21 137

The number at the start of the name on the left is what the player was ranked in 2008,the next number is their age now and the last in Red is current Pro Tour Ranking.Of course some of the younger players would of no doubt improved their junior ranking but this list is as they stood in 2008.Bernard Tomic is the best performed in the buys with a ranking of 45 on the senior tour he is also the youngest of this list still only 19.Ryan Harrison the young American has risen and at 20 is the next best at 48. Dimitrov who beat Tomic at Junior Wimbledon a couple of years ago is also promising and starting to have good results and is 69 and David Goffin from Belgium is 59.Stebe the German is 82.So the breakup is pretty telling from this group 1-20 0 players 20-40 0 players 40-60 3 players 60-80 1 player 100-200 5 players 200-400 1 player and 400+ 9 the biggest group. My first article said that not every one will transgress their junior ranking to the seniors and this is very much so looking at these stats.At the time I first wrote the article Logan Mackenzie from New Zealand at that time was 108 he went on to have a career junior high of 64 he sits currently ranked 1274 in the senior ranks at 22 years old.Its very hard to be a Pro even harder to be a high ranking one.

Will the Girls be the same, my first thought was the household names like Williams,Sharapova,Clijsters,Graf all had great results at a young age and were well on there way to greatness at the end of their teenage years.

1 RUS, Arantxa NED 21 67

2 HALEP, Simona ROU 20 45

3 OUDIN, Melanie USA 20 123

4 LERTCHEEWAKARN, THA 20 174

5 ROBSON, Laura GBR 18 113

6 BOGDAN, Elena ROU 20 235

7 BOGDAN, Ana ROU 19 558

8 JOVANOVSKI, SRB 20 93

9 NARA, Kurumi JPN 20 152

10 LYKINA, Ksenia RUS 22 341

11 ROMPIES, Jessy INA 22 578

12 KONTA, Johanna AUS 21 210

13 HERCOG, Polona SLO 21 63

14 HOFMANOVA, Nikola AUT 21 322

15 KERKHOVE, Lesley NED 20 396

16 KUCOVA, Kristina SVK 22 274

17 CHERNYAKOVA, Elena RUS 21 576

18 HENDLER, Tamaryn BEL 19 178

19 MLADENOVIC, Kristina FRA 19 154

20 MOORE, Jessica AUS 21 688

Simona Halep at 45 is the best ranked in the seniors from this group certainly no one yet pushing top 20.Watch out for Laura Robson GBR at 18 is the youngest of this list and had a great Junior career.Again no one has eqalled their junior best ranking yet.In 2008 New Zealand Sasha Jones at the time of writing was 165 she went on to a Junior career high of 11 and sits now at 173 on the Pro Tour. I will let you make your own assumption , I certainly have always said dont read into too much the Junior ITF rankings as prooven in this little exercise it is indeed harder to make it on the senior tour.Just recently befor Wimbledon I posted the top 10 girls in the current junior world rankings I will post the top 20 boys and Girls for 2012 as they stand now and maybe in a few years I will do the same exercise.

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Players Excel at South Island Junior Tournament

I attended the South Island Indoor Champs with a group of 7 players lending a hand with tournament preparation and support.Players ages ranged from 7 years to 13 years.As a coach you learn so much by watching your players compete in a tournament situation.Both the player and the coach comes away from events such as this learning a lot and going forward to the next event and of course what the goal for that player will be in their lesson plan for the next block period.Find Below a brief summary of each player.



Rebecca Delaway :Had an outstanding tournament reaching the Main Draw 14 Girls singles final.Watching Rebecca progress to the final it was great to see the improvement in 1.Serve, much more balanced and ball toss improved,Rebecca often throws in a few doubles but during this tournament the double faults were few and far between and this allowed Rebecca to keep up he momentum in buliding points especially on her serve.Reading the play is improving and of course this comes with more Match play and tournaments.Rebecca lost the final to the top seed from Christchurch 6-3 6-1 but a very close first set and even though the scoreline was 6-1 in the second Rebecca made her opponent work for her win.Rebecca and partner RileighFields took out second place in the combined 16/14 doubles.



Brylee More : Reached the final of the 10s Girls singles going down to the top seeded Auckland player Sarah Kate Weekley 9-1.Brylee on her way to final beat Emma White 9-0 from Southland and then 9-5 fellow North Otago player Mackenzie Phillips 9-5 in a great tussle.From the weekend I could see more point construction happening although in the Final Brylee was trying to finish the point too early however did make her oppenent work harder towards the end of the match.Brylee partnered Mackenzie Phillips where they had a Match point only to lose 9/8 against Weekley and White.This was an outstanding match and both girls fought back from a bad start to edge ahead.A tie break had to decide the match and the title.Fantastic effort girls! Great Tournament Brylee



Mackenzie Phillips: Mackenzie won the plate event for the 10 girls after losing to Brylee in the Main draw. I was very impressed with Mackenzie and she has made great inroads in the past 6 months,improving all aspects of her game. Her forehand return in the doubles proved devistating at times.

Her reading of the play and movement is another key area Mackenzie has worked on.She partnered Brylee in the doubles and as mentioned above lost a tense tiebreak to secure the runner up.Great tournament.



Jordan Phillips : Is only 7 and played her first major event. Jordan shows a lot of potential for age and she played some fantastic points over the weekend.Jordan really showed great concentration and took it too all that she played...even her sister Mackenzie : ) .This event will of helped you a lot Jordan and the experience gained is invaluable.Great Work Jordan



Kate Caldwell : This was Kates first event in the 14s age group and I am sure she learned a lot from her matches here. Kate played well to take the first set and then led 4-2 in the second in her first match , her oppoenent leveled and took the set and then the next to win in 3. Kate like many of us lets the thinking of how she had the lead in the second and two games away from winning the match take over.We cant change the past and must try to be positive for the rest of the match.It even happens to Federer Kate he blew a two sets to love lead last year at Wimbledon but he bounced back to win the event this year. Kates final match was a 6-2 6-1 loss and moving forward from here point contstruction and movement to shorter balls and the serve are areas to pinpoint at coaching. Well done Kate the experience gained will help enormously.



Josh Eckhold: Could of played in the 10s event but elected to play 12s and played some good tough matches.This time last year Josh had not developed into the player he is today.Point construction, technique and not dropping the old head has been major improvements in Josh's game.

Josh is now competing for every point and construction and keeping in the play is much improved. Josh no doubt will put some extra time into his backhand over the next training block.Well Done Josh



Nay Nay : Is only 9 but playing well above her age and is one of the best for age in New Zealand.Nay nay is also coached in Christchurch by Mark Wilson.Nay Nay is learning to develop her ability to maintain an acceptable level in match play, playing tough on the key points can be installed at an early age and Nay Nay has the ability to improve this area and her 9-1 win over Tiesha Holden from Timaru was indeed very professional not allowing her opponent any free points and was hungry for all the points.After having a talk about her previous match and the ability to go out and be professional whoever the opponent ,paid off.I think Nay Nay took a lot out of this weekend.Well done.

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Wimbledon Day 14 Men's Singles Final

Roger Federer added another Wimbledon title equalling Pete Sampras with 7 titles.Murray again the Bridesmaid in his 4th Grandslam final.I for one thought Federer's grandslam winning was past him.Dont write of champions! Until 4 all in the second Murray was on top,but then Federer Magic kicked in,his all court game too good.Murray will rue the fact he hit a straightforward backhand return long off an ordinary second serve at breakpoint and 4-4.You miss your opportunity and it is gone as quick as it arrived.Federer wins the set and its 1-1 and then a rain delay.Federer until then had been fairly passive on his second serve return,but I am guessing his team reinforced how important it was to go after Andy's second serve.And he did! As I said yesterday in my post this would be a key factor,Feds average second serve speed was 98 MPH whilst Murray was 88MPH. Fed was in control his dropshots, his disguised slice approaches and the lobs over a stranded Andy was perfection. Murray was beaten by a better player and in some opinions the best that has ever played this game.I'm not a Murray fan but his emotional speech at the end showed his passion and the respect he has for his supporters.He tried his hardest and I have no doubt his committment and dedication.Well done Andy Murray you earned a lot of respect from the viewing public , dissapointed but Gallant in defeat.You did yourself and country Proud.

Roger is back ...he never went away but this week has put a little fear back into the Djoker and Rafa ,he has sent out a stern warning the "King" has regained the throne.

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Wimbledon Day 13 Men's Final

What a match up ....will Murray achieve what no other British player has done in the Modern Era?I thought Federer was past it to win another Grandslam title...how wrong I was when he put paid to Novak Djokovic the defending Champion.Whilst stats will be different against each opponent, things to note that Feds 1st serve percentage was 64% average speed of first serve was 118MPH.He won 75% of points from his first serve.He also won 72% of points from his second serve.Federer Will have to serve well today.Federer only made 10 unforced errors for the match.Murray does have a great return of serve.


Murray served at 60% Against Tsonga .He is going to have to at least match Fed with this stat.He did win 75 % from first serves.Murray's average first speed was 117 MPH so not a lot of difference here.Fed will return better than Tsonga did.Fed has a big edge on the second serve his average speed for his semi final was 102 MPH whilst Murray's average was just 88MPH. In a tight contest this could indeed be the telling factor.Murray made just 12 unforced errors. Fed has the edge on temperament ,and for one Murray's temperament is why I have not warmed to Murray due to his constant moaning to his players box.


Murray is a fierce competitor has he learned anything from his previous Grandslam losses? He may have but at the end of the day does his game have the substance to beat the Greatest ever male player of all time who also is chasing History.I have a feeling this could be an epic, I am hoping for a Fed win, whilst if Murray does get up it will be a reward for all his hard work starting from his juniors day.Its just the crap he goes on with on court that annoys me.Judy his mother was somewhat subdued in the Semi Final and lets hope her ass is glued to the seat today.


Finally someone tweeted that their could be a new williams on the horizon with Richard's wife expecting..Richard is 72 and if in 20 years we are watching another williams following in their sisters footsteps Richard will be 92....


My tip is Federer but anything is possible this WIMBLEDON even finally a home grown champion the first in 74 years.Murray has been pointing to the heavens after his matches this week..is he getting divine help maybe from Fred Perry HIMSELF the last British men's champ.And last but not least Conragulations Serena on her win in the singles and doubles with sister Venus.She is a champion and has added so much to the Sport.

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