Tennis NZ agree on need for matches

TENNIS New Zealand is backing national performance coach Christophe Lambert’s vision for more tournaments.

The Frenchman, who has previously worked for Britain’s LTA and Tennis Canada, started his new job with Tennis NZ last week.

Prior to starting, Lambert told Stuff a key component in turning around the fortunes of tennis in New Zealand was for there to be considerably more tournaments for young Kiwis to play in.

Tennis NZ CEO Julie Paterson not only agreed with Lambert’s comments but said they’re already going down that track.

‘‘What had started prior to Christophe coming along, was a review of our tournament competitions and the structure that sits alongside our performance pathways,’’ Paterson said.

‘‘We’ve looked at what we are doing and potentially where there are gaps.

‘‘We haven’t come to the end of that review piece yet. We’re in a space where we’re plotting out a tournament calendar that’s going to sit alongside the performance pathway and it’s going to potentially mean some juggling around.

‘‘So we’re going to have to consult with the regions and the people who are currently delivering those tournaments for us.

‘‘Christophe is getting to understand what we’re doing now but he’s right in identifying that there are some opportunities inside our calendar.

‘‘I’d like to think in six to eight weeks we might have something shaped up.’’

There are few tournaments for young players outside the school holidays. That’s for the elite juniors and those who want to go beyond interclub tennis.

Lambert has joined Tennis NZ to make a difference. He wants to be inclusive and get the support of the regions and top coaches.

‘‘One of the things that made Christophe such an appealing applicant for Julie and I was the nature of how he goes about his business,’’ Tennis NZ high performance manager Simon Rea said.

‘‘Anyone that advocates increasing the amount of playing opportunities around our youngsters domestically, I’d strongly support that.

‘‘How we’ve done that in the past is taking a select group of youngsters and shipped them off to Europe for an extended period of time.

‘‘If we can build a system from within and domestic initially, that provides them with a greater level of competition at a closer level of intensity that they’re going to encounter when they go overseas.’’