NZ Tennis serves up southern hemisphere first
New Zealand Tennis hopes it has hit a winner with a fully televised, Auckland-based Premier League professional competition that will get under way on June 3.
The league, a collaboration between Tennis New Zealand and the Lavie Tennis Academy, is being touted as the sport’s first professional competition to get up and running in the southern hemisphere since the shutdown caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.
The team-format league has lured some heavy-hitters, too, with top Kiwis pros and Davis Cup regulars Rubin Statham and Artem Sitak, New Zealand-based world No 77 Cameron Norrie, of
Great Britain, and Queenstown’s Japanese Davis Cup player Ben Mclachlan among those confirmed to line up.
All 112 matches, to be played in Auckland behind closed doors, will be televised either on Sky Sport or online via the broadcasters’ Youtube channel. The event will feature 24 players competing across three weeks of round robin and finals play, with significant prize-money being lined up.
Players will be seeded and split into eight teams of three and it’s hoped some of the country’s brightest young prospects, back from college commitments stateside, will line up alongside the touring professionals.
‘‘It’s a great chance for the best players in New Zealand to play matches again. I’ve always enjoyed the teams format,’’ said Mclachlan.
Lavie, director and head coach of the Lavie Tennis Academy, said New Zealand’s growing talent pool made it a good time to launch such a league.
‘‘We’re looking to be really innovative and make things as fun as we can for players and those watching at home,’’ he said.
With players able to train effectively within their bubble at alert level 3, and courts opening up even further at level 2, a quick lead-in time to a June 3 competition start was able to be achieved
‘‘Training without a goal is not possible for professional and competitive athletes,’’ Tennis New Zealand’s high performance director, Christophe Lambert said.
‘‘The Premier League offers opportunities for our best players to have a home-based competitive environment, so they are ready to jump back in when the pro circuit starts again, but also for our younger players to get the experience needed to perform at the highest level.’’
An event schedule and final make-up of teams will be released later in the week.