Tots’ tennis titles

Press, 26 July 1980, Page 12

Tots’ tennis titles

New Zealand tennis is to make an all-out bid to “catch ’em young” by introducing a national under-13 championship for boys and girls next summer. It will be the first project promoted under the ‘umbrella of the BP Tennis Foundation. The veteran Davis Cup player, Onny Parun. greeted the news with enthusiasm. “I’m very pleased — a national under-13 contest is a must,” he said. “If we want good players, even great players, we must get them in the 11-14 age group. At 15 it is almost too late. “We must look for a potential great player, Wimbledon champion, two players who are capable of sinning the Davis Cup. I don’t think it is beyond our country — look at Argentina, for example. “A national under-13 event will create interest earlier in more kids —

and the more young kids you have playing, the better the chance of getting a great player.” Parun has a special interest in the foundation’s projects because he and his fellow Davis Cup players of last season, Russell Simpson and Chris Lewis, have been named as members of the initial board of trustees. The others who will administer the foundation are Mr Jeff Robson, the Davis Cup team captain, Messrs David Kendall and Kelley Griffiths, of the sponsoring company and Messrs lan Wells and Barry Shute of the N.Z.L.T.A. Mr Wells said the establishment of the foundation would mean an expenditure on junior tennis of more than $500,000 over the next eight years. The foundation would become the base for all junior tennis activity at national level.