History
New Zealand competed in its first Davis Cup in 1924. Prior to 1914, New Zealand competed together with Australia as Australasia. Australasia won the Davis Cup in 1907, 1908, 1909, 1911 and 1914. Anthony Wilding was the only New Zealander to play for Australasia, and he was part of the winning team in 1907, 1908, 1909 and 1914. The final of the 1911 Davis Cup was held in Christchurch from January 1–3, 1912, the first tie to be played in New Zealand. New Zealand was also the host for the finals nine years later, when they were held in Auckland.
New Zealand's best result as a separate team was a World Group semi-final in 1982, which they lost 2–3 to France on clay in Aix-en-Provence. New Zealand had beaten Spain by 3–2 on grass in Christchurch in the first round and Italy by 3–2 on clay in Cervia in the quarter-final. That year the New Zealand team comprised Chris Lewis, Onny Parun, Russell Simpson, and Bruce Derlin.
New Zealand also made in to the World Group quarter-finals in 1981, 1983, and 1990.
Anthony Frederick Wilding, also known as Tony Wilding, was a New Zealand world No. 1 tennis player and soldier who was killed in action during World War I. Considered the world's first tennis superstar, Wilding was the son of wealthy English immigrants to Christchurch, Canterbury, New Zealand and enjoyed the use of private tennis courts at their home. He obtained a legal education at Trinity College, Cambridge and briefly joined his father's law firm. Wilding was a first-class cricketer and a keen motorcycle enthusiast. His tennis career started with him winning the Canterbury Championships aged 17. He developed into a leading tennis player in the world during 1909–1914 and is considered to be a former world No. 1. He won 11 Grand Slam tournament titles, six in singles and five in doubles, and is the first and to date only player from New Zealand to have won a Grand Slam singles title. In addition to Wimbledon, he also won three other ILTF World Championships : In singles, two World Hard Court Championships (WHCC) (1913–14) and one World Covered Court Championships (WCCC) (1913). With his eleven Grand Slam tournaments, two WHCC and one WCCC titles, he has a total of fourteen Major tournament titles. His sweep of the three ILTF World Championships in 1913 was accomplished on three different surfaces being the first time this has been achieved in Major tournaments.
Michael I. Belkin is a former top-ranked Canadian tennis player.
Onny Parun is a former tennis player of Croatian descent from New Zealand, who was among the world's top 20 for five years and who reached the quarterfinals at Wimbledon in 1971 and 1972. He made the final of the Australian Open in 1973, losing to John Newcombe in four sets, and was a US Open quarterfinalist in 1973 and also a quarterfinalist at the French Open in 1975. He eventually went on to coach the Bhatti brothers.
Eliot Teltscher is a retired professional American tennis player. He won the 1983 French Open Mixed Doubles. His highest ranking in singles was #6 in the world and in doubles was #38 in the world.
Rogier Wassen is a Dutch tennis player who competed regularly on the ATP Tour primarily as a doubles player.
Philip Bester is a Canadian former professional tennis player from North Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Bester was a finalist at the 2006 junior French Open. In doing so he became the first Canadian male to reach a Grand Slam final in singles.
The 1911 International Lawn Tennis Challenge was the tenth edition of what is now known as the Davis Cup, named after the American tennis player Dwight F. Davis. After no country decided to challenge Australasia in 1910, only the British Isles and the United States would challenge for the Cup, for the third straight edition. Also for the third straight edition, the Americans would beat the British to earn the right to play for the Cup, and for the third straight edition, the Aussies would beat the Americans for the title.
Richard Crealy is an Australian former tennis player most notable for reaching the final of the Australian Open in 1970, being a member of the 1970 Australian Davis Cup Team, and winning three Grand Slam titles in doubles.
The 1975 New Zealand Open, also known as Benson and Hedges Open for sponsorship reasons, was a professional men's tennis tournament held in Auckland, New Zealand. It was an independent event, i.e. not part of the 1975 Grand Prix or 1975 World Championship Tennis circuit. It was the eighth edition of the tournament and was played on outdoor grass courts from 6 January through 12 January 1975. First-seeded Onny Parun won the singles title.
Brian Fairlie, is a retired tennis player from New Zealand. During his career from 1968 to 1979, he won four titles in doubles, all with the Egyptian player Ismail El Shafei, and 10 singles titles in the Open era.
Marcus Daniell is an inactive New Zealand professional tennis player. He reached his career-high ATP doubles ranking of world No. 34 on 29 January 2018 after reaching the quarterfinals of the Australian Open. He won a bronze medal in the men's doubles at the 2020 Summer Olympics, alongside Michael Venus.
The 1974 Commercial Union Assurance Grand Prix was a professional tennis circuit administered by the International Lawn Tennis Federation (ILTF) which served as a forerunner to the current Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) World Tour and the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) Tour. The circuit consisted of the four modern Grand Slam tournaments and open tournaments recognised by the ILTF. The season-ending Commercial Union Assurance Masters and Davis Cup Final are included in this calendar but did not count towards the Grand Prix ranking.
Artem Yurievich Sitak is a Russian-born New Zealand professional tennis player. On 11 August 2008, he reached his highest ATP singles ranking of World No. 299, whilst his highest doubles ranking of World No. 32 was reached on 10 September 2018, after the US Open. He is the younger brother of Dmitri Sitak, who was also a professional tennis player.
Michael Venus is a New Zealander professional tennis player. He has a career-high doubles ranking of world No. 6, achieved on 29 August 2022. Venus won the 2017 French Open men's doubles partnering Ryan Harrison, and followed with a runner-up finish in the 2017 US Open mixed doubles partnering Chan Hao-ching. Venus and Harrison qualified for the year-end championships ATP Finals, where they reached the semifinals.
Koji Watanabe is a Japanese former international tennis player. He won four career singles titles (1966-1969).
Mark Nielsen is a former professional tennis player from New Zealand.
Jeff Simpson is a former professional tennis player from New Zealand.
Wesley Koolhof is a Dutch professional tennis player who specialises in doubles. He achieved his career-high doubles ranking of world No. 1 in doubles on 7 November 2022. He has won 14 doubles titles on the ATP Tour, most notably the 2020 ATP Finals with Mektić, the 2022 Madrid Masters, the 2022 Canadian Open and the 2022 Paris Masters partnering Neal Skupski. He has finished runner-up at a further 19 ATP tournaments, including two times at the US Open and four at Masters 1000 level.
Hans-Joachim "Hajo" Plötz is a former professional tennis player from Germany.
John Sharpe is an Australian born Canadian former professional tennis player.
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