Bold plans afoot for Wilding Park

Press, 15 June 1983, Page 48

Bold plans afoot for Wilding Park

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JOHN BROOKS

Ftaahed with, success threagh the outcome of the Davis Cnp tie at Wilding Park three months ago, the Canterbury Lawn Tennis Aswcutioa is looking forward confidently to holding the semi-final and final of the prestigious competition at the same venue later this year. ' >' First the New Zealand team would have to eliminate Sweden in England. This would earn it a place in tha. semi-finals, against eMbni'Ttaiy or Argentina, in Nnw Zealand. ..

Another victory at this stage would advance the Kiwis into . the ce*.. final, also on a home suffice, and Mr Brian Faults, chairman of the Canterbury association’s cup planning' committee, is confident that means Wilding Park. Mr Fanils and his group are laying plans quietly for - suchaneventuality. ' “In the event of a New Zealand win . against . Sweden, we will have pur arrangements virtually operative within a week of the result,” he said, i There are those who warn of the danger of counting

chickens. before they are hatched, but Mr Faulls cannot be one of them, because of the amount of planning involved. . He believes that the Argentinian tennis authorities are having trouble, in reaching agreement with Guillermo Vilas and Jose Luis Clerc over contracts. And then there is the matter of the one . year suspension on Vilas, a severe penalty which the world’s fifth ranked player is trying to have lifted. “So the New Zealand team could be faced by either a weakened Argen-

tinian side or Italy at full strength,” Mr Faulls said. “But New Zealand has already beaten Italy on day in their own country, and this would give our players a big psychological advantage?’ ■ • r ‘Never before have the stakes been so high, but this year the odds are even better for New Zealand. Should Vilas and Clerc not be available, we could have a relatively easy passage to the final.” Christchurch and Aucklandwould be the principal contfaders for a cup final, in early December.

In the meantime Mr Faulls and his committee members are examining the cost of erecting additional stands at Wilding Park, with the semi-final in mind. Mr Faulls expects just a “minimal” increase in the price of seats for a semifinal tie, and has promised a wide range of ticket costs. The match would be played early in October. “With a profit in excess of a five-figure sum from the Danish tie, our association is hoping to get the final — and that-would really put Canterbury tennis

on the map.” In Wellington meanwhile, the national tennis association chairman, lan Wells, said yesterday that he was disappointed there would be no television coverage of next month’s tie between New Zealand and Sweden, the Press Association reports. Television New Zealand has advised the New Zealand Lawn Tennis Association that as there is no host broadcaster service for the tie which will be played at Eastbourne, England, from July 8-10 no live or delayed coverage is planned.