Lewis defends daughter’s funding
Jade Lewis’ father David has defended her funding from the Seed Foundation, saying there was no chance of her making it as a professional without the support.
As reported in the Sunday StarTimes last week, Jade has received financial support from the independent organisation, which will cover her expenses for at least the next three years, which could total $500,000.
It has been the main talking point in tennis clubs around the country, with some questioning whether she needs all that money if she’s good enough, or if it’s fair that so much has gone to her while other players have got nothing.
But David, who is a former Fed Cup captain, said without the backing his daughter wouldn’t have had any chance of trying to make it to the top.
‘‘Seed approached us and said they’d like to get behind Jade, they were impressed with how she did the last couple of years,’’ Lewis said. ‘‘She had proved herself at college, so the next step was to hit the circuit and that’s where Seed has come in.
‘‘There are some big costs but if you know you’ve got that [money] behind you, then you know you can give it a shot. You need a certain budget so you can play up to 30 tournaments a year.
‘‘There weren’t any options without this, she’d probably stay at college. But there wasn’t really any point staying there, she’s at an age where she’s ticked the boxes.
‘‘You need the backing to travel and she’s lucky that she can take this opportunity, give it her best shot and see where it all goes. Otherwise, basically you can’t play.’’
The Seed Foundation, which was set up to give New Zealand tennis players a helping hand, has only ever significantly backed three players – Marina Erakovic, Sacha Jones, and Lewis.
There are plenty of other players
from this country that have tried to make it as a professional without that support and invariably they’ve failed, although Michael Venus, Marcus Daniell and Artem Sitak have been able to carve out good careers for themselves on the doubles circuit.
Getting about $165,000 of expenses paid each year does put Jade on a pedestal, but David says that doesn’t put extra pressure on her and it’s only helped level the playing field with what other young players from bigger countries are getting.
‘‘It’s not funding that’s going personally to Jade, it’s purely to cover costs,’’ he said.
‘‘Let’s face it, all of the top juniors are travelling with their federation’s coaches.
‘‘It’s very expensive to be on the road for 30 weeks and the bulk will go towards travelling costs, nothing is going to Jade.’’
Daniell, who received scant support when he was younger, last week wrote on Facebook that he hoped Jade could get to the top.
‘‘Great that someone got something, much better than the alternative,’’ Daniell wrote.
‘‘Interesting circumstances and interesting amount.
‘‘Let’s hope she uses it well and does NZ proud.
‘‘And let’s also hope that this is the start of a trend where Kiwis get more help from the powers that be to achieve excellence on a international level.’’
But others hasn’t been so kind and there has been criticism of her getting so much support, even though the Seed Foundation has no affiliation with Tennis NZ.
‘‘They’re an independent organisation where the selectors (James Greenhalgh, Shelley Bryce [nee Stephens] and William Ward) have selected Jade and they came to us, saying they were impressed with what she’s done,’’ David Lewis said.
‘‘They wanted to help Jade and it’s not my decision, it was the selectors’.
‘‘What else can we do? Do we turn them down?
‘‘She’s proved that there is potential there and now they’d like to help her transition and give it a shot.’’
Jade Lewis has spent the last six weeks playing lowly ITF tournaments in Europe. She has usually been able to get through the qualifying draws, but has then struggled to go deep in the main draw.
However, it’s a tough grind at the level she’s at.
‘‘If she’d won a couple of points in some matches this trip could have gone a heck of a lot better,’’ David Lewis said.
‘‘But you’ve got to keep chipping away and there are going to be lots of ups and downs.
We know that she can play at a good level, we saw that against Lauren Davis, we saw it for a set against Venus Williams.
‘‘It’s now about consistently playing to a good level and you can learn that by playing these tournaments.’’