Welcome to the International Lawn Tennis Club of New Zealand
"Hands across the net, friendship across the ocean "


Welcome to the IC of New Zealand

The IC of New Zealand was formed in 1956 and has around 150 members in New Zealand and around 50 living overseas.

Ron McKenzie and Jeffrey Robson inspired the formation of our Club after they had been made Honorary Overseas Members by the IC of Great Britain. Jeff was our Patron from 1994 until he died in 2022 aged 93 and always took a very active part in our activities.

At our May 2023 AGM we appointed another long-time member Sir Colin Maiden as our Patron. Sadly Sir Colin passed away in July 2024.

ICNZ was very pleased to send 2 teams to help celebrate the centenary of the foundation of the original International Club in Great Britain in 1924.

The revolving photos above reflect some of the team. To read more click on the August 2024 Newsletter on the Noticeboard as this is entirely a report of the IC Week held on the Wimbledon grass courts.

Some of the names of former or current International players who are members include:

Lan Bale, John A Barry, Dr Peter Becroft, Jill Bignell, Beverley (Vercoe) Billington, Martin Colenbrander, Marcus Daniell, Gilles de Gouy,      Bruce Derlin, Malcolm Elley, Marina Erakovic, Raewyn (Dickson) Ferkins, Patsy (Belton) Fleming, James Greenhalgh, Peter Hampton, Brett Hibbert, Alistair Hunt, Grantley Judge, Betty (Bryant) Kay, Robin Legge-Hunt, Dan King-Turner, David Lewis, Mark Lewis, Andrew Lobb, John Lockington, Greg Long, Justin Mackenzie, Cecilie (Fleming) McIntyre, John Mills, Ethne (Green) Mitchell, Dame Ruia Morrison, David Mustard, Mark Neilson, Linda (Stewart) Nightingale, Pavlina Nola , Elizabeth (Terry) Odgers, Onny Parun, Tony Parun, Danny Parun, Brenda Perry, Marilyn Pryde-Lawrence, Erin Routliffe, Ruth Seeman, Philip Seemann, Des Shaw, James Shortall, Jeffrey Simpson, Artem Sitak, Gary Slater, Elaine (Becroft) Stephan, Brett Steven, Judy (Burke) Tinnock, Claudine Toleafoa, Andrew Turner, Michael Venus, Marcel Vos, Wesley Whitehouse, Dan Willman, Kevin Woolcott, Brian Woolf.

Overseas based Anton Bettink, Howard Broun, Robert Clarke, Ian Crookenden,James Dunphy, Ron Dutton, Kelly Evernden, Pauline (Elliott) Hanson, Lew Gerrard, Jeremy Grubi, Steve Guy, Robyn Legge-Hunt, Chris Lewis, Mark Long, Julie Richardson, Russell Simpson, Oliver Statham, Rubin Statham, Paul Smith, Stephen Temple.

Touring Players. We also have a group of younger players who are actively playing on various circuits. At the Paris Olympics Erin Routliffe and Lulu Sun represented NZ.

The IC of New Zealand is active in organising a number of events and matches for both junior and senior members.

The NZ Funds Trans-Tasman Trophy event for junior players (16 & under) was competed for annually with Australia, on a home and away basis. This led to the wider zone eliminations.

In 2008 the World Final of the first Compass IC Junior Challenge event washeld very successfully in Auckland. This has now grown each year with the elimination matches being played every second year, with the final the following one. The 2013-4 Finals were played at Wimbledon, the 2015-6 at Monaco and the 2017-18 in Japan. 2022 was held in San Diego and November 2023 in La Jolla USA. This is now called the Rod Laver Junior Challenge.

Morning Tea functions at the ATP & WTA tournaments in Auckland each January, for members and overseas players.The worldwide Covid-19 pandemic led to the cancellation of the two International Tournaments for the 2nd year in January 2022 but we were thrilled to be back in action again in January 2023 and 2024.

60th Anniversary Weekend. In late August 2016 we held a wonderful celebration, with tennis, golf and a special Dinner. Around 120 members and partners came from around New Zealand and overseas for this. Special guests included Lew Gerrard and Ian Crookenden, two well-known NZ Davis Cup Players. Our Patron, Jeff Robson MBE was honoured with Life membership of ICNZ, a very well deserved honour. Since then Life Membership has been awarded to Des Shaw and Brian Woolf in 2019 and Jill Bignell in May 2023.The most recent was Cecilie McIntyre in 2024 after 5 years as President and 25 years on the committee. She has now edited 100 of the occasional Newsletter which can be opened on the Noticeboard.

In October 2019 we resumed our matches with the Australian IC when a NZ team of 10 members with supporters travelled to the Gold Coast for a very successful weekend of friendly rivalry. NZ won the matches 8/3 therefore becoming the first holders of the Sedgman-Tills Trophy. It was a great pleasure to have Frank Sedgman and his wife there for the weekend, and also on the Saturday evening to meet Ken Rosewall and his (now late) wife Wilma.We thank ICA President Kerryn Pratt and her committee for making us very welcome.

After a Covid postponement in March 2022, we played another match with the Australian IC in Wanaka, in the South Island in March 2023 which although smaller was well contested and NZ retained the Sedgman-Tills Trophy. See the Noticeboard for our newsletters covering this and other events.

IC Council News

August 2025
Meet a member: Jimmy Tasker, IC of Barbados

Meet a member: Jimmy Tasker, IC of Barbados

Jimmy Tasker was born and raised in the beautiful island paradise of Barbados. His father Jimmy Tasker Snr. was a well-respected tennis coach on the island and it was no surprise that young Jimmy and his two older sisters were all handed racquets at an early age. A natural talent with a feel for the ball that can’t be taught but which one has to be born with, left-handed Jimmy became dominant at both the junior and senior levels in Barbados while still a young teenager.

Jimmy represented the island in the Brandon Trophy – a Caribbean Open tournament – from as early as age 16 and also played on the Caribbean team in the Davis Cup before each island had its own team. Once Barbados had its own Davis Cup team, he would go on to represent his country between 1989-1992. One of the highlights of his career was his participation at Junior Wimbledon in 1980 where he competed alongside juniors Mats Wilander and Henri Leconte.

Jimmy attended and played college tennis for Houston Baptist College with his two older sisters and went on to play the American Circuit for 3 months. Jimmy has continued to play tennis and has represented his Club at every interclub tournament for which he has been available. His introduction to IC Barbados some 12 years ago was through another highly respected member of the tennis community of Barbados, Mr. Peter Symmonds.  Jimmy’s love of the sport, along with his desire to give back to it after bringing him so many happy memories and positive aspects to him and his family over the years, is what led to his decision to accept the invitation to become a member. He has contributed in many ways to the IC of Barbados, including serving as captain of the Barbados team to the IC Rod Laver Junior Challenge tournament in the Bahamas in 2019. He has participated in most of the invitationals to IC events since becoming a member and counts the reconnection with comrades from his earlier tennis days as well as the forming of new friendships, among the many aspects of what he loves most.

Jimmy is currently looking forward to attending the IC of Canada’s 60th anniversary event in September and then onwards to India’s 75th celebrations in 2026. Jimmy can always be counted on to enjoy a friendly game of tennis, which he preferably follows up with some socializing on the beach with his friends and/or guests.

You can connect with Jimmy on Instagram here.

Previous Article The IC Rod Laver Junior Challenge Worldwide Finals - Daily Reports
Next Article AGM 2025
All IC Council News >>

Latest Noticeboard

Contact

Our Honorary Secretary is Angela Hart
Telephone: + 6421 168 5148 

 email:secretary.icnz56@gmail.com

 

Upcoming Events

All Upcoming Events >>