NZ Fed Cup coach Carter walks away

AUCKLAND: New Zealand’s Fed Cup captain Neil Carter says ‘‘farreaching issues’’ have led to his unexpected departure from the national tennis body.

Tennis New Zealand confirmed Carter’s resignation on Friday, just under 15 months after he was appointed to the role.

It is a curious situation, as, unlike some previous coaches at that level, Carter is universally admired and respected by the female players.

He has built strong relationships with Paige Hourigan, Valentina Ivanov and Erin Routliffe and has put much of his own time — outside his contracted 70 days a year — into helping Kiwi players.

And the Fed Cup team seemed on the verge of a bright future, Ivanov and Hourigan showing potential in singles and Routliffe making great progress in the doubles arena.

But Carter has walked away from a role he has aspired to for much of his long coaching career.

However, he was reluctant to elaborate on the reasons for his departure.

‘‘I don’t really want to comment,’’ Carter told The New Zea

land Herald.

‘‘I just feel this needs to be dealt with internally, initially. There are clearly issues — I am not going to lie — and some farreaching ones but I want to see how the next few weeks pan out.

‘‘Hopefully, there will be some steps forward and my successor won’t need to face the same issues.’’

Carter, who spent 14 years overseeing tennis development in Dunedin, bringing through the likes of WTA professionals Dianne Hollands and Shelley Stephens, before a decadelong stint in England running his own academy, admitted it was a wrench to leave the programme.

Tennis New Zealand CEO Julie Paterson said Carter’s decision to leave, while unfortunate, was a personal one.

‘‘Neil has been very committed [to the team] and has supported them in making some good progress in a pretty short time [so] it is disappointing,’’ Paterson said.

‘‘His discussion with me on Friday was that he would like to pursue other coaching that he has got under way at the moment. That’s fair enough, it’s a very parttime job and we have a pretty limited budget. It’s always a challenge keeping quality people.’’

Paterson was positive about the future direction of the women’s programme and didn’t feel there were any underlying problems. ‘‘No, I don’t think so,’’ she said. ‘‘We have made good progress with the women’s team . . . it’s just a shame that Neil felt he couldn’t continue with it.’’

Tennis NZ will begin the search for a replacement immediately, ahead of the Asia Oceania Group 2 tournament in June. — NZME

I just feel this needs to be dealt with internally, initially