Exhibition matches to decide ‘No 1’

Ajeet Rai’s rapid rise in world rankings to be the No 2 ranked New Zealand singles player has led to the formation of a Taranaki-based series of exhibition matches between Rai and Rubin Statham, cheekily entitled ‘‘Who is The Real No 1?’’

The initial match will be on the natural grass courts at Hawera today and the concluding match in the series will be held tomorrow at the Rotokare Tennis Club’s astroturf courts in New Plymouth, with both events starting at 5.30pm.

Both nights will feature not only the main singles duel, but will be accompanied by a celebrity doubles match, interviews with the players about their Davis Cup and professional careers, and a sports memorabilia auction.

Ajeet Rai, 19, of New Plymouth, became a tennis professional in May and played his first tournament in Uganda. Rai won through two rounds of qualifying and then his main draw first-round match to earn his first ever ATP ranking point in his first-ever tournament.

Rai broke through for his initial tournament victory in Thailand.

Ranked at over 1000 in the world, Rai beat the No 1 seed, ranked in the 300s, in the first round and then won five matches to take out the singles title, defeating the No 2 seed in the final 6-3 4-6 6-4. Rai almost made it a tournament clean sweep, losing in the final of the doubles in a match tiebreak 6-1

1-6 10-6. This saw him collect 18 ATP ranking points and saw him jump to 694 in the world, and the No 2 ranked New Zealand singles player behind Rubin Statham.

Rubin Statham, at age 31, has been a stalwart for New Zealand tennis, especially in Davis Cup. He first played Davis Cup in

2005 and has played more Davis Cup ties (30) for his country than any other player. In

2013, Statham was awarded a Davis Cup Commitment Award alongside Novak Djokovic; an award bestowed on only four other New Zealanders.

Statham has a current ATP Ranking of

500 but has been as high as 279 in the world. He has won 410 ATP/ITF main draw singles matches and 325 main draw doubles matches, which have led to 12 singles titles and 21 doubles titles.

The exhibition doubles match in New Plymouth will feature Rai and Statham joined by Wesley Whitehouse (Junior Wimbledon champion) and Taranaki tennis legend Mike Fleming. The Hawera doubles exhibition will see two top South Taranaki juniors Abby Ross (Taranaki Primary Schools champion) and Jorja Symes (2018 Taranaki U12 No 1).