Robertson makes racket to court a Dame
Grant Robertson lunges forward towards the little black ball. His racket reaches just in time and he smacks it hard against the wall.
The ball bounces off the wall, straight to his opponent, Dame Susan Devoy, who taps it back.
The deputy prime minister sprints to the other side of the court in pursuit, trying to anticipate the ball’s path. The small crowd gathered on the other side of the glass wall claps and cheers as he scores a point and then breaks out in a grin.
Most people would balk at the prospect of taking on New Zealand’s greatest ever squash player on the court. But Robertson saw playing against Devoy, who dominated the sport in the 1980s and 1990s and won the World Open four times, as ‘‘a once in a lifetime opportunity’’.
The pair played a friendly game at Club Kelburn yesterday to celebrate its ‘‘relaunch’’ after it was saved from closure thanks in part to a $300,000 grant from Squash New Zealand.
Devoy, who was New Zealand’s Race Relations Commissioner for several years after her retirement from professional sport, moved from Mt Maunganui to Wellington’s Newtown earlier this year to take over management of the club.
The role has been all encompassing for Devoy, who has been involved in every aspect of the relaunch – from taking bookings at reception to cleaning toilets.
Robertson, who is both the Wellington Central MP and Minister for Sport and Recreation, said he used to play squash at the club a lot and knew how important it was to the community.
‘‘It’s a massive tribute to Dame Susan. We owe her a great deal,’’ he said, while trying to catch his breath and sipping water out of a wine glass after the game.
The game left Robertson ‘‘shattered’’. While he was pleased he managed to steal some points from Devoy, he reckoned she went easy on him.
He would not be drawn on the score, saying only that Devoy won by ‘‘a lot’’.
Devoy said having Robertson come along ‘‘added real mana’’ to the squash club’s opening.
‘‘As you can see from the tired look outside, we’ve got a lot of work to do. We’re hoping people might be able to help and support us in any way they can, even if it’s just spreading the word because a lot of people thought that we were closing and have left and probably don’t know that we are here for good.’’