Tennis NZ shock as ‘issues’ see coach go
Former New Zealand Federation Cup coach Neil Carter says “far-reaching issues” have led to his departure from the national body.
Tennis New Zealand announced Carter’s resignation on Friday, just under 15 months after he was appointed to the role.
It’s a curious situation because unlike some previous coaches at that level, Carter is well respected and admired 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, with Ivanov and Hourigan showing potential in singles and Routliffe making great progress in doubles.
But Carter has walked away from a role he aspired to for much of his long coaching career.
However, Carter was yesterday reluctant to elaborate on the reasons for his departure.
“I don’t really want to comment,” Carter told the Herald on Sunday .“I just feel this needs to be dealt with internally, initially. There are clearly issues — I am not going to lie — and some far-reaching 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 decade-long stint in England running his own academy, admitted it was a wrench to leave the programme.
“It’s a role I have worked all my life for, and I had almost given up on the chance of taking it,” said Carter. “I’ve loved the job . . . so to feel like I have to resign is quite sad. But I will continue to help the players as much as possible — nothing changes from that point of view — it’s just that I am no longer Fed Cup coach.”
Tennis New Zealand chief executive 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,” said Paterson. “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 quality coaches in our programme, it’s just a shame Neil felt he couldn’t continue with it.”
Tennis NZ will search for a replacement immediately, ahead of the Asia Oceania Group 2 tournament in June.