Team Kiwi find home away from home off the tennis court
There’s a house in Saint Johns, Auckland, which has become the home for an unofficial Team Kiwi of New Zealand tennis.
The country’s top three women’s players – Erin Routliffe, Paige Hourigan and Valentina Ivanov – have all be staying with NZ Fed Cup captain Neil Carter for most of the past month.
The three players will all compete in next week’s ASB Classic and they’ve benefited by taking up the hospitality of Carter, who opened up his home to allow them to be in the best environment possible, before they move into the official tournament hotel today.
‘‘Paige, Valentina and myself are all staying there right now, so it’s a full house,’’ Routliffe told Stuff.
‘‘It’s really nice of him and we’re so grateful for that.
‘‘It’s tough because none of us actually live in Auckland or have family here, but we obviously want to come to train here.’’
Routliffe was born in Auckland, but moved to Canada at the age of four; Ivanov has been based in Sydney with her family; while Hourigan is from Turakina, in between Whanganui and Palmerston North and has just completed her degree at Georgia Tech in the United States.
With them being together under the same roof, it’s helped create a united bond, which can only be beneficial when it comes to next year’s Fed Cup.
‘‘As we’re all staying in the same house, it definitely feels like we’re in a team environment,’’ Routliffe said.
‘‘It’s better when you have girls around you the same age and level training with you.’’
For Routliffe, this will be her third time playing at the Classic. While she’s yet to win a match at the tournament, her previous two matches went to three sets.
The 23-year-old feels she’s made progress through 2018, with the help of Carter, who spent time
‘‘I still know I want to play singles.’’ Erin Routliffe
with her on the road during a string of tournaments in Australia.
‘‘It was good being with Neil and having a travelling coach is nice, he came with me for three weeks,’’ Routliffe said.
‘‘It was tough because the tournaments are really strong, but I definitely felt like I improved and made some good strides in my game.
‘‘Maybe we didn’t get some of the results we wanted, but you’ve got to keep going week after week and not be too hard on yourself.
‘‘When you’re all by yourself sometimes you play the matches and think about what you think you did wrong and right.
‘‘But when a coach is there, he can tell you exactly what he thinks and it can give you a different perspective.’’
Routliffe played doubles at Wimbledon this year, with Alexa Guarachi, of Chile, and Routliffe has an impressive doubles ranking of 107, so she and Guarachi will be able to play doubles at the Classic without needing a wildcard.
In singles, Routliffe is ranked 731, but she doesn’t want to focus on being just a doubles player.
‘‘I still know I want to play singles,’’ she said.
‘‘I don’t think I’ve played to my full potential yet and I hope to do that.
‘‘When I feel that I have and I just want to play doubles from then on, I’ll do that. But I don’t want to just play doubles right now, I’m pretty adamant about that.’’