Sports feature Tennis influx after Becker’s triumph

Press, 9 August 1985, Page 19

Sports feature Tennis influx after Becker’s triumph

Since Boris Becker became the youngest player to win the men’s singles title at Wimbledon, tennis in West Germany has experienced a 20 per cent increase in participants.

A Christchurch man, Terry Mooney, who has recently returned from West Germany after three months of coaching and playing near Stuttgart, described the increase in playing numbers as “staggering.” Mooney said it was a bonus to be in West Germany when Becker won the final.

“On the morning he completed his semi-final against Leconte there was hardly a car on the streets. It was the same during the final.” On the morning of the final, a Sunday, church congregations were offering tennis prayers for Becker. “They must have worked,” commented Mooney. The increase in interest in

the sport after Becker’s success was mainly due to typically efficient promotion by administrators, and promotion by Becker’s sponsors, Puma and Ellesse, said Mooney .The fact that it was summer and still tennis weather also assisted greatly. Tennis in Germany is for well-off members of

the population. A first year subscription costs $450 in most clubs.

“If you want to play the game seriously you also have to belong to an indoor club and it costs the same to belong to a winter club.”

New Zealanders have many more opportunities to play tennis, said Mooney, because of the number of courts available, but the Germans progress more rapidly once they reach a certain level of attainment because they have numerous in which tournaments to Play.

Mooney was employed by a club to play in a district league and also to coach for the club. Competition in the leagues was fierce, with many clubs buying overseas players in an effort to boost their performances.

“One team in the district spent $lOO,OOO buying players this season, and when I left hadn’t won a game.”