Tennis ace in flood ordeal
Veteran NZ Davis Cup tennis player started to think the worst after his car lost power and started floating on an Auckland motorway resembling a river. Brendon Egan reports.
Kiwi tennis stalwart Rubin Statham started thinking the worst during a scary experience while driving during the Auckland floods on January 27.
The 35-year-old could overtake Onny Parun’s mark for the most Davis Cup victories (singles and doubles) for New Zealand in this weekend’s World Group 1 playoff tie against Bulgaria in Christchurch. The pair are tied on 30 wins, 28 of those coming in singles for Statham.
But Tennis was the last thing on his mind a week ago after being caught up in deep floodwater.
Statham left the Albany Tennis Park for his home in Takapuna, which would usually take about 12 minutes. Driving on Auckland’s Northern Motorway, the road quickly resembled a river with Statham and other road users trying to move off to the side.
‘‘Basically the highway became a lake and I had to go around the side through the water and halfway through the water my car started floating and then turned off completely,’’ he said.
‘‘There was fumes coming out of the front and fumes started coming out where the A/C [air conditioning] comes out. I turned down my window to get the fumes out.’’
Statham admitted there were a few anxious moments with his vehicle floating for five minutes without electronics. Thankfully, a four-wheel drive nudged him from behind and helped push him through to the exit ramp with his car
eventually regaining power.
‘‘There’s a small boundary to the right [of the road] where it just drops straight down, so I was thinking my car might go off the edge if it continued to float right.
‘‘That was actually pretty scary. It was pretty lucky I had that four-wheel drive behind me to get me through.’’
Statham never got to thank the driver for
getting him to safety, but was grateful for their actions. It had provided him with some renewed perspective ahead of the Davis Cup tie.
‘‘It was lucky that car came through. I was considering what my next move would be. I was lucky to get through that one, so it’s my second life down here in Christchurch [this weekend].’’
New Zealand Davis Cup captain Kelly Evernden said if it hadn’t been for the driver Statham might have been ‘‘a duck without a head floating around in the water there’’.
‘‘It was a horrible thing to have happened.’’
Statham, who is New Zealand’s most capped Davis Cup player with 33 ties, debuting in 2005, returns to the side after
missing September’s 5-0 loss to Finland, following a dispute with Tennis NZ.
He proposed a preparation plan leading into the tie and wanted Davis Cup teammates Kiranpal Pannu and Ajeet Rai to join him for several overseas tournaments to be at their peak.
Statham and Tennis NZ could not come to terms with the contract, but he said the
relationship had since improved and there had been positive steps forward.
‘‘It was unfortunate I couldn’t play that tie, but I think they’ve done things a bit more professionally for this tie and taken some things on board. It’s good to see and also for the next generation of players. If we’re looking at World Group Davis Cup and top 100 singles players we’re going to have to do things really professionally and with the right intentions.’’
Statham was passionate about New Zealand tennis and the country doing well on the world stage. His suggestions for the national body came from a good place, he said.
‘‘How I see other teams preparing into Davis Cup ties, it’s something we need to look at – the preparation phase leading in to really set ourselves up to have the best chance to win these ties. That’s what I’ve been pushing. That we do that collectively as a team and it’s good to see some improvements in that area.’’
If Statham could gain another singles win this weekend and move ahead of Parun, who made the final of the Australian Open in 1973, it would be meaningful.
In 2016, he took another record off Parun in Christchurch against Pakistan, becoming New Zealand’s most capped Davis Cup player with 26 ties.
‘‘It was my goal to get that singles record and I’ve done that and I’m tied with Onny for the most overall wins. I’m happy with being tied with Onny actually, that’s a great name to be tied with.’’
After some frustrating times with injury, including hip surgery in 2019, he was feeling the healthiest he had in several years.
Statham was also playing decent tennis, after what he rated as the best Davis Cup victory of his career last March, beating Uruguay’s Pablo Cuevas 7-6 6-2. Cuevas had a career-high singles ranking of 19 in 2016 and New Zealand won the World Group I tie 3-1 in Las Vegas.
At his most recent ATP Challenger New Caledonia Open event in January, he reached the quarterfinals in the singles and won the doubles with Colin Sinclair (Northern Mariana Islands).
Bulgaria would be a formidable opponent this weekend, but Statham said there was strong belief in the New Zealand side, especially with the tie at home.
‘‘I think on paper they’re favourites, but we’ve beaten many countries when we’ve been the underdog and we kind of thrive off that as a team.’’