The New Zealand Championships was a combined men's and women's tennis tournament founded in 1885 in

Napier, New Zealand Napier ( ; mi, Ahuriri) is a city on the eastern coast of the North Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Hawke's Bay Region, Hawke's Bay region. It is a beachside city with a Napier Port, seaport, known for its sunny climate, esplanade lin ...

also known as the New Zealand National Lawn Tennis Championships or the New Zealand Lawn Tennis Association Championships. The championships were organised by

Tennis New Zealand Tennis New Zealand (commonly known by the acronym Tennis NZ or TNZ) (formally the New Zealand Lawn Tennis Association) is the governing body of tennis in New Zealand. Founded in 1886, it is one of the world's oldest tennis associations. It is a ...

, and played in various locations during its run that ended in 2020.

History

Anthony wilding with his father at the New Zealand championships

In December 1885, the first New Zealand Championships were held at Farndon Park, in the small town of

Clive Clive is a name. People and fictional characters with the name include: People Given name * Clive Allen (born 1961), English football player * Clive Anderson (born 1952), British television, radio presenter, comedy writer and former barrister * ...

, near

Napier Napier may refer to: People * Napier (surname), including a list of people with that name * Napier baronets, five baronetcies and lists of the title holders Given name * Napier Shaw (1854–1945), British meteorologist * Napier Waller (1893–19 ...

. The championships were organised by the

New Zealand Lawn Tennis Association Tennis New Zealand (commonly known by the acronym Tennis NZ or TNZ) (formally the New Zealand Lawn Tennis Association) is the governing body of tennis in New Zealand. Founded in 1886, it is one of the world's oldest tennis associations. It is a ...

, which was formed in Napier. The championships were held in numerous locations throughout the course of their history. In 1907 the edition of the tournament was valid as the

Australasian Championships The Australian Open is a tennis tournament held annually at Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Australia. The tournament is the first of the four Grand Slam tennis events held each year, preceding the French Open, Wimbledon, and the US Open. ...

grand slam event. The championships were not held from 1915 to 1918 due to World War I and also from 1941 to 1944 during World War II. In 1973 the event was sponsored by the oil company BP and was known as the BP New Zealand Championships for one edition only. The event continued to be held through till 2020 when it was discontinued. The tournament was played almost exclusively on grass courts from its inception until 1988 when it switched to

hard courts A hardcourt (or hard court) is a surface or floor on which a sport is played, most usually in reference to tennis courts. It is typically made of rigid materials such as asphalt or concrete, and covered with acrylic resins to seal the surface and ...

. The winners of the first gentlemen's singles title was Percival Fenwick, and the ladies singles was won by Sarah Lance. The final winner of the men's singles title was

Finn Tearney Finn Tearney (born 27 September 1990) is a tennis player from New Zealand. Tearney has a career high ATP singles ranking of 356 achieved on 10 October 2016 and a career high ATP doubles ranking of 402 achieved on 8 February 2016. He has won t ...

and the women's singles was won by Paige Hourigan. The towns where the championships were held included Auckland, Christchurch, Dunedin, Hastings, Mount Eden,

Miramar Miramar is a place name of Spanish and Portuguese origin. It means "sea-view" or "sea sight" from ''mirar'' ("to look at, to watch") and ''mar'' ("sea"). It may refer to: Places Africa * Miramar, Port Elizabeth, see St Dominic's Priory School ...

, Nelson,

New Plymouth New Plymouth ( mi, Ngāmotu) is the major city of the Taranaki region on the west coast of the North Island of New Zealand. It is named after the English city of Plymouth, Devon from where the first English settlers to New Plymouth migrated. ...

, Palmerston, Timaru and Wellington. From 1983 the event was held permanently in Wellington.

Event names

The event was first known as the New Zealand National Lawn Tennis Championships or the New Zealand Lawn Tennis Association Championships. It was later shortened to just New Zealand Championships and historically sometimes referred to as the New Zealand Senior Championships. In 1973 the tournament was sponsored by the oil company BP and was branded as the BP New Zealand Championships.

Notes

This event should not be confused with the New Zealand Open Championships event that was first played in Auckland in 1969 and exclusively in that city until 1979 that was a combined event until 1981, and is directly descended from the both ATP Auckland Open and WTA Auckland Open. This tournament for all of its history was regarded as a national championships, and should not be confused the men's

tournament that was titled as such from 1988 to 1992 was also a different roll of winners.Tennis New Zealand. pp. 18, 19, 20.

References

{{Reflist Defunct tennis tournaments in New Zealand Grass court tennis tournaments Hard court tennis tournaments

History

Event names

See also

Notes

References