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. We are now delighted to announce that Chris Lewis, a well known member and former Wimbledon finalist has agreed to become our Patron.

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

October 2025
The IC of Sweden win the 2025 Wallenberg Trophy

The IC of Sweden win the 2025 Wallenberg Trophy

This year Great Britain hosted the Wallenberg Trophy. Teams of 4-7 players from the ICs of Great Britain, Sweden, Germany and France played age group singles and mixed doubles. M45, M55, L35, L45.

St Georges Hill was the venue, and what a venue, coupling tradition with the contemporary in every sense from the cuisine, the excellent staff and facilities made available to the international visitors.

This year the Match Manager extended the format to make the event both more challenging and hence rewarding by playing three full days of tennis, with each team facing each other in a round robin format. Each match consisted of four singles (M45, M55, L35, L45) and two mixed doubles (M55/L45, M45/L35) rubbers, each with a championship tie break in the third set if required. Any matches resulting in 3-3 at the end of the day would be decided by a ‘free for all’ championship tie break. With only one point up for grabs from each match, the potential for high drama, tie break shootouts took the atmosphere to a daily fever pitch.

The international teams were not taking this competition lightly, each fielding players with excellent current and previous world seniors rankings and a smorgasbord of quality ex-professionals.

Day 1: Practice

Crucial to doing well was arriving early for the practice day. The ‘all weather’ artificial clay courts required for the event would prove unusual for the international visitors, and familiarity counts for a lot.

Introductions, welcome drinks and dinner in the evening, set the scene for a great three days of competition.

Day 2: Match day 1

Great Britain v France 5-1
Sweden v Germany 4-2

 

Day 3: Match day 2

Great Britain v Sweden 3-4 (match tie break decider)
France v Germany    2-4


Prior to the final day of matches, any one of three teams could still win the trophy. Only France was unable to take the overall victory, but could they stave off Sweden for Great Britain or Germany to win.

Day 4: Match day 3

Great Britain v Germany 2-3 (reduced rubbers due to rain)
Sweden v France  3-2 (reduced rubbers due to rain)


Overall champions of the Wallenberg Trophy were Sweden. A congratulatory speech was made by Peter Harding, Captain of the IC of Great Britain and a trophy presented to take the place of the Wallenberg Trophy the German team should have brought with them but as they allegedly thought they would win it again it was not included in their luggage to bring to the fixture!

Thanks go to Nicola Henesy who volunteered to be match court coordinator over the three days and ensuring the players were all in the right place at the appointed time, no mean feat!

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Contact

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

 email:secretary.icnz56@gmail.com

 

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