Monday, 25 May 2020. Get today’s tennis results from the Auckland New Zealand stage of the WTA Doubles tennis competition for the 2020 tennis season. Commencing 3 June, Tennis NZ and Lavie Tennis Academy are bringing you the NZ Premier League – the first professional tennis competition in the Southern Hemisphere since the shutdown of sport due to COVID-19. Patterson, meanwhile, confirmed the sport had largely avoided the ravages of the coronavirus shutdown being experienced by many other codes, though was by no means out of the woods just yet. The fixtures, results, table and brief of New Zealand Premier League tennis league. "We're fortunate we had come to the end of our season ... but our anxiety really is the next six months and understanding what's going to happen in terms of membership and engagement in sport at the community level," she told "But from an international perspective it's been challenging.
"We could have potentially had a a small number of spectators but it would have added an additional layer of compliance that might have slowed us down a bit. "There has been an impact, but it hasn't been as severe as a number of the winter codes. I’ve always enjoyed the teams format,” he said. A team format will be used, with players split into eight teams of three. It’s a fun, social, group tennis-fitness programme for all ages and abilities - even non-tennis players.
The opportunity to open the league to spectators had also been closely looked at. “The Premier League offers opportunities for our best players to have a home-based competitive environment, so they are ready to jump back in when the pro circuit starts again, but also for our younger players to get the experience needed to perform at the highest level.” An event schedule and final make-up of teams will be released later in the week. "Sky TV is a really important player in New Zealand sport, and we’re really grateful for the support they're providing around this league," said the Kiwi tennis boss. "We’re looking to be really innovative and make things as fun as we can for players and those watching at home," he said. The worry is that the impact for us just might come a little later. "When [Sports Minister] Grant Robertson made the announcement about sport being able to get back under way and tennis and golf those first couple of sports off the rank, for us to continue that through to this Premier League is great for our sport." Commencing 3 June, Tennis NZ and Lavie Tennis Academy are bringing you the NZ Premier League - the first professional tennis competition in the Southern Hemisphere since the shutdown of sport due to COVID-19. "Queenstown-based Ben McLachlan is excited to be part of New Zealand's Premier League tennis competition.Kiwi doubles specialist Artem Sitak will line up in the new Kiwi men's league. “Training without a goal is not possible for professional and competitive athletes,” Tennis New Zealand’s high performance director, Christophe Lambert, said. Several seasoned ATP tour pros are lined up to compete alongside the best up and coming talent in NZ. All 112 matches, to be played in Auckland behind closed doors, will be televised either on Sky Sport or online via the broadcaster's YouTube channel. Lavie, director and head coach of the Lavie Tennis Academy, said New Zealand's growing talent pool made it a good time to launch such a league. Our professional players are not earning revenue and our development players would normally be offshore getting tennis in the northern summer at this time. Tennis New Zealand & Lavie Tennis Academy are excited to announce the launch of New Zealand Premier League tennis. With almost 200 venues nationwide, it’s easy to start playing! The team-format league has lured some heavy-hitters, too, with top Kiwis pros and Davis Cup regulars Rubin Statham and Artem Sitak, New Zealand-based world No 77 Cameron Norrie of Great Britain and Queenstown’s Japanese Davis Cup player Ben McLachlan among those confirmed to line up.