As most New Zealand tennis fans will be aware, the old Robinson Stand at Stanley Street was demolished after the 2025 ASB Classic as the first stage of the planned redevelopment which will eventually see a roof over the Centre Court.  Unfortunately the temporary stand which has been put in place has no media or commentary boxes like the one I was able to use in the old stand last year, nor do I have access to anywhere else that I could park my laptop.  That means I won't be able to update the website during each day's play, as it's far too fiddly to try doing so on my phone, so I will have to do it when I get home.

Luckily for us, only a few New Zealand players are scheduled to compete in the coming week - four that I know of at the ASB Classic (plus doubles wild cards), plus three who have entered ITF tournaments in widely-scattered parts of the world - Isabella Harvison in Monastir, Valentina Ivanov in Oslo and Reece Falck in Winston-Salem in North Carolina.  I should be able to update those three, at least, as soon as their results are through.

Finn Reynolds and James Watt are playing in an ATP Challenger tournament in Nouméa, while Cameron Norrie is at the combined ATP/WTA tournament in Brisbane.  As both these events are in time zones which are close to New Zealand's, I will have the same restrictions on publishing results as those from Auckland.

21 New Zealand players, plus Matt Donald and Jamie Mackenzie, reached a new top level in 2025, with many of those gaining ATP or WTA points for the first time.  Nine of those players managed new best numbers in both singles and doubles, with the fast-rising pair of Finn Reynolds and James Watt both cracking the top 100 in doubles.

The full list is:

Cody Atkinson (doubles - 2444)

Monique Barry (singles - 471; doubles - 241)

Sarah Barry (doubles - 1647)

Nick Beamish (doubles - 1987)

Isaac Becroft (doubles - 929)

Corban Crowther (doubles - 1083)

Aishi Das (singles - 1171; doubles - 1705)

Matt Donald (CZE) (singles - 600; doubles - 592)

Reece Falck (singles - 1221; doubles - 791)

Lucia Gale (doubles - 1510)

Finley Hall (doubles - 1917)

Valentina Ivanov (doubles - 518)

Alex Klintcharov (singles - 730; doubles - 585)

Jamie Mackenzie (GER) (singles - 1054; doubles - 2288)

Jade Otway (doubles - 717)

Harry Pugh (singles - 1611)

Finn Reynolds (doubles - 85)

Matthew Shearer (doubles - 984)

Anton Shepp (singles - 906; doubles - 692)

Lulu Sun (doubles - 190)

Elyse Tse (singles - 907; doubles - 584)

James Watt (singles - 569; doubles - 87)

Finn Willman (singles - 1843; doubles - 2043)

The undoubted highlight for New Zealand tennis in 2025 was Erin Routliffe winning her second US Open doubles title, once again in partnership with Gaby Dabrowski, but that good news was overtaken by the announcement that they were ending their collaboration after failing to defend their title at the WTA Tour finals in Riyadh.  It took until 29th December for the worst-kept secret in tennis to become a reality, with Routliffe and her best friend Asia Muhammad being announced as the top seeds for the ASB Classic and entering the Australian Open as a pair.  Having already won a Masters title together, at Cincinnati last year, expectations will be high that the pair can build on their previous work together.

The US Open was only one of four titles that Routliffe won during the year, as she also defended her Cincinnati title (this time with Dabrowski), as well as winning the WTA 500 tournaments in Charleston and Stuttgart (where she and Dabrowski played together on clay for the very first time).  While that was an amazing year, it was James Watt who collected the most trophies, with two ITF M25s in Australia being followed by five Challenger titles in North America and China, all of the latter in partnership with Finn Reynolds.

Between them, 15 players won 29 senior and five junior titles, although four of the latter went to expat Kiwi Jamie Mackenzie, who now lives in and represents Germany.  What was rather concerning was that just two players - Lulu Sun and Anton Shepp - were ale to win senior singles titles at any level.  The full list of titles won is (bold italics indicates first title of this type at this level or above; CAPITALS indicates first title of any kind above J100):

Grand Slam:

6th September: US Open doubles - Erin Routliffe (and Gaby Dabrowski)

WTA 1000:

18th August: Cincinnati (USA) doubles - Erin Routliffe (and Gaby Dabrowski)

WTA 500:

7th April: Charleston (USA) doubles - Erin Routliffe (and Jelena Ostapenko)

21st April: Stuttgart (Germany) doubles - Erin Routliffe (and Gaby Dabrowski)

ATP 250:

11th January: Auckland doubles - Michael Venus (and Nikola Mektić)

WTA 125:

28th September: Jingshan (China) singles - Lulu Sun

ATP Challenger:

8th June: Tyler (USA) doubles - Finn Reynolds and James Watt

6th July: Cary (USA) doubles - Finn Reynolds and James Watt

20th July: Granby (Canada) doubles - Finn Reynolds and James Watt

5th October: Tiburon (USA) doubles - Finn Reynolds and James Watt

11th October: Jinan (China) doubles - Finn Reynolds and James Watt

ITF W50:

5th May: Lopota (Georgia) doubles - Paige Hourigan (and Rutuja Bhosale)

ITF W35:

22nd February: Burnie (Tasmania) doubles - Monique Barry (and Elena Micic)

1st March: Launceston (Tasmania) doubles - Monique Barry (and Elena Micic)

5th October: Darwin (Northern Territory) doubles - Monique Barry (and Gabriella Da Silva-Fick)

1st November: Brisbane doubles - Monique Barry (and Natsumi Kawaguchi)

ITF M25:

22nd February: Burnie (Tasmania) doubles - James Watt (and Matt Hulme)

15th March: Mildura (Victoria) doubles - James Watt (and Matt Hulme)

22nd March: Swan Hill (Victoria) doubles - Ajeet Rai (and Joshua Charlton)

15th June: Wichita (USA) doubles - MATTHEW SHEARER (and Ozan Baris)

11th October: Perth doubles - Ajeet Rai (and Finn Bass)

ITF M15:

16th February: Monastir (Tunisia) doubles - Matt Donald (CZE) (and Tadeas Paroulek)

16th August: Ystad (Sweden) doubles - ANTON SHEPP (and Oliver Johansson)

24th August: Båstad (Sweden) doubles - Anton Shepp (and Oliver Johansson)

18th October: Heraklion (Greece) doubles - REECE FALCK (and Maxwell Benson)

14th December: Hamilton singles - ANTON SHEPP

ITF W15:

15th June: Gdansk (Poland) doubles - Valentina Ivanov (and Johanne Svendsen)

20th July: Kursumlijska Banja (Serbia) doubles - Valentina Ivanov (and Rebecca Munk Mortensen)

16th August: Tweed Heads (NSW) doubles - Monique Barry (and Gabriella Da Silva-Fick)

ITF J500:

25th May: Milan (Italy) doubles - Jamie Mackenzie (GER) (and Niels McDonald)

ITF J300:

15th June: Bamberg (Germany) singles - Jamie Mackenzie (GER)

20th September: Beijing (China) doubles - Jamie Mackenzie (GER) (and Tito Chavez)

21st September: Beijing (China) singles - Jamie Mackenzie (GER)

ITF J200:

31st August: Sydney doubles - CODY ATKINSON (and Jake Dembo)

25 players made their senior debut in 2025.  Unlike in some other years, they all took the first steps towards a professional career by playing an ITF tournament.  Those players were:

Riley Breen - 9th February, Timaru

Josh Gilbert - 9th February, Timaru

Te Koha Manawatu - 9th February, Timaru

Paddy Ou - 9th February, Timaru

Yashwitha Reddy - 9th February, Timaru

Connor Brosnahan - 12th February, Timaru

Saanvi Raniga - 5th May, Indian Harbour Beach, Florida, USA

Natalie Donald (CZE) - 6th May, Prague, Czechia

Felix Littlejohn - 7th December, Hamilton

Emma Roberts - 7th December, Hamilton

Thando Thebe - 7th December, Hamilton

Spencer Weyburne - 7th December, Hamilton

Elijah Blackshaw - 14th December, Papamoa

Charlize Cashmore - 14th December, Papamoa

Hunter Every - 14th December, Papamoa

Louie Fannin - 14th December, Papamoa

Matthew Finn - 14th December, Papamoa

Max Flanagan - 14th December, Papamoa

Liam Howes - 14th December, Papamoa

Aviva Kurtovic - 14th December, Papamoa

Bede McCashin - 14th December, Papamoa

Damian Tairi-Barros - 14th December, Papamoa

Liam Youn - 14th December, Papamoa

Lala Fannin - 15th December, Papamoa

Jaimee Collinson - 22nd December, Antalya, Türkiye

With New Zealand's highest level junior tournament only being a J100, all eight juniors who stepped up to J200 level (without playing a senior event) had to go overseas to do so.  They were:

Gaspard Lemaitre - 19th August, Sydney

Justin-Li Moroney - 19th August, Sydney

Alalilo Tepa - 19th August, Sydney

Luca Bland - 21st August, Sydney

Luke Kemball Gibbons - 21st August, Sydney

Dan Milburn - 22nd August, Sydney

Noa Milburn - 22nd August, Sydney

Alex Wylie - 28th September, Corpus Christi, Texas, USA

80 players represented New Zealand in senior matches in 2025, ranging from the lowliest ITF M15 and W15 events all the way up to the Grand Slams, and there was success at every level.  That number included two players changing their country of representation, Sarah Barry having previously played under the Canadian flag whilst Isabella Harvison switched to her father's country of birth after earlier playing for both the United States and Spain.

25 of those 80, most of whom are still juniors, made their debut at ITF level.  Those are listed separately in the next post.  While the usual plethora of youngsters flew the New Zealand flag in small ITF junior events, there were eight who played bigger events (J200) without starting in a senior tournament.  Most of them will, I'm sure, take that step up next year.  They are also listed in the next post.

In addition, there were four others who were born or grew up here but represent other countries - Matthew and Natalie Donald, Jamie Mackenzie and Cameron Norrie.  The Donalds moved to Prague for better tennis opportunities when Matt was 12 years old, and have represented the Czech Republic ever since, while the only difference for Mackenzie and his father Justin was that they went to Dusseldorf in Germany instead.  Norrie's story is much better-known, the South African born British flagbearer having grown up in Auckland and sounding just as much a New Zealander today as he always has.

15 of those players won titles, the ultimate being Erin Routliffe's second US Open doubles title, and it was rather a shock to find out that she and Gaby Dabrowski would be splitting up after the WTA Tour finals, just two months later.  James Watt was the most successful, picking up seven titles, with several others standing on the figurative top step of the podium for the first time.  Those title winners have a post devoted just to them.

The final sub-section is for those 23 players who attained a new career-high ATP or WTA ranking during the year.  Again, several made their debuts on these lists, most hopefully aspiring to eventually equal Erin Routliffe and become the world's best player, whether it be in singles or doubles.  And, for those who say that someone ranked 800 or 1500 or 2500 can't be much good, just remember that every world number one was once in exactly that same position.  Also point out to them, as I have to various players in the past, that those rankings mean that you're the 800th (or whatever) best player in the world, and that means there are more than three BILLION people around the world who are worse than you.  It's all a matter of perspective!

The most important teams events in tennis, and referred to by the governing body as the "World Cups" of the sport, are the Davis Cup for men and the Billie Jean King Cup for women.  Inspirational play by Jack Loutit ensured that the New Zealand men won their tie against Jamaica in February, overcoming the heat, humidity and a fanatical home crowd in Kingston to do so, and the team rose again to defeat Georgia in Palmerston North in September.  That will take them to a home World Group I play-off tie in Whangarei in February against Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The women travelled to Pune in India in April for their Asia/Oceania Group I tournament, and came out on top after winning four of their five ties.  That took them to the giddy heights of the World Group play-offs for the first time in many years, but the team suffered a devastating blow just days before the event was due to start in Poland when Lulu Sun sustained a wrist injury that necessitated complete rest for three weeks.  Without our top singles player New Zealand stood no chance, and duly went down to both Poland and Romania.  They will return to Group I for 2026.

It's been a long summer, and commitments away from tennis have made it impossible to write up match reports in the way that I had done earlier.  It also wasn't helped by the ITF changing their data and streaming partner, making it more than difficult to figure out what was going on in so many matches.  However, with most of those bugs appearing to have been fixed, and the Australasian circuit having concluded, I'm now able to get back to my earlier routine.  It's fitting that the first of these new reports features our highest-ranked player in her first match with a new partner.  At this stage they're together only for one tournament, but who knows what may happen?

I'm also thrilled to see Paige Hourigan back in action, having been off the scene for long enough (more than six months) to earn herself a Special Ranking.  Her comeback isn't at ITF level: instead, she's playing in a WTA 125 tournament in Antalya, partnering Rutuja Bhosale.  The combination are unbeaten, having won ITF tournaments in China and Japan last year in their only previous starts together, but this event is a big step up from those.  This week also sees players in locations that they haven't experienced before with Reece Falck and Finley Hall both playing in the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, and James Watt sampling the delights of Mexico for the first time as he teams up with Finn Reynolds in Cuernavaca.