Tennis Canterbury and Tennis New Zealand were delighted to be able to host an International Tennis Federation (ITF) tournament at Ngā Puna Wai for the first time, from 8^th-12^th of this month.

The Junior ITF J3 tournament saw 32 entries in each of the Boys Singles and Girls Singles draws and 24 entries in each of the Boys Doubles and Girls Doubles draws. Not surprisingly, it was an exciting week with a number of the sport’s future global super stars displaying their talents.

It is interesting to note that some of the previous winners of Junior ITF Tournaments have included:

Boys: Roger Federer, Andy Roddick, Stefan Edburg, Pat Cash and Ivan Lendl

Girls: Martina Hingis, Svetlana Kuznetsova, Amelie Mauresmo, Anna Kournikova and Gabriela Sabatini

Tennis Canterbury CEO, Ryan Forbes, comments, “It’s very exciting to see Canterbury being able to host major tennis events and international tennis players again, just like it did a number of years ago when it hosted several international tournaments and of course, also Davis Cup ties. Having this wonderful facility at Ngā Puna Wai gives the region so much more capacity to do this. With so much tennis talent emerging in the Canterbury region, at present, we are looking forward to not only hosting more international tournaments but also seeing a number of our sporting talents being real contenders for titles in them in the future too”.

Following closely on the heels of the ITF tournament is Tennis Canterbury’s junior and senior interclub programmes. These competitiions started on the 12th of October and include a number of grades being hosted at Ngā Puna Wai.

Tennis Canterbury wishes to thank the Christchurch City Council, Sport Canterbury and all their sponsors for their ongoing support both at Ngā Puna Wai and in the sport of tennis in the region more generally.  

For the latest on what's happening at Ngā Puna Wai follow Sport Canterbury on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/sportcanterburynz/