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

Napier, New Zealand Napier ( ; ) is a city on the eastern coast of the North Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Hawke's Bay region. It is a beachside city with a seaport, known for its sunny climate, esplanade lined with Norfolk pines, and extensive Art D ...

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, 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 1886, the first New Zealand Championships were held at Farndon Park, in the small town of Clive, near Napier. The championships were organised by the New Zealand Lawn Tennis Association, which was formed in Napier. The championships were held in numerous locations throughout the course of their history. The championships were not held from 1915 to 1918 due to

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

and also from 1940 to 1945 during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. Although the majority of the winners of the event were from New Zealand, a number of players from overseas also won the title, including Grand Slam singles winners

Bill Tilden William Tatem Tilden II (February 10, 1893 – June 5, 1953), nicknamed "Big Bill", was an American tennis player. He was the world No. 1 amateur for six consecutive years, from 1920 to 1925, and was ranked as the world No. 1 professional by Ra ...

Fred Perry Frederick John Perry (18 May 1909 – 2 February 1995) was a British tennis and table tennis player and former World number 1 male tennis player rankings, world No. 1 from England who won 10 Majors, including eight Grand Slam (tennis), ...

Vivian McGrath Vivian Erzerum Bede McGrath (17 February 1916 – 9 April 1978) was a tennis champion from Australia. Along with John Bromwich, he was one of the early great players to use a two-handed backhand. His name was pronounced "McGraw". Biograph ...

and

John Bromwich John Edward Bromwich (14 November 1918 – 21 October 1999) was an Australian tennis player who, along with fellow countryman Vivian McGrath, was one of the first great players to use a two-handed backhand. He was a natural left-hander, though ...

. New Zealand's multiple Grand Slam singles winner

Anthony Wilding Anthony Frederick Wilding (31 October 1883 – 9 May 1915), also known as Tony Wilding, was a New Zealand world number 1 ranked male tennis players, world No. 1 tennis player and soldier who was killed in action during World War I. Considered ...

also won the New Zealand championships title. Before 1922 the Australasian championships were held in New Zealand on two occasions, but this was a separate tournament from the New Zealand championships. From 1922 onwards the Australasian Championships were no longer held at New Zealand or Perth and the event changed its name to the Australian Championships in 1927. From 1973 to 1987 the event was sponsored by the oil company BP and was known as the BP New Zealand Championships. From 1988 the event was a New Zealand national event and continued to be held through till 2020 when it was discontinued. The tournament was played almost exclusively on

grass court A grass court is one of the types of tennis court on which the sport of tennis, originally known as "lawn tennis", is played. Grass courts are made of grasses in different compositions depending on the tournament. While grass courts are more tra ...

s from its inception until 1988 when it switched to hard courts. The winner of the first men'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 Auckland ( ; ) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. It has an urban population of about It is located in the greater Auckland Region, the area governed by Auckland Council, which includes outlying rural areas and ...

Christchurch Christchurch (; ) is the largest city in the South Island and the List of cities in New Zealand, second-largest city by urban area population in New Zealand. Christchurch has an urban population of , and a metropolitan population of over hal ...

Dunedin Dunedin ( ; ) is the second-most populous city in the South Island of New Zealand (after Christchurch), and the principal city of the Otago region. Its name comes from ("fort of Edin"), the Scottish Gaelic name for Edinburgh, the capital of S ...

Hastings Hastings ( ) is a seaside town and Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough in East Sussex on the south coast of England, east of Lewes and south east of London. The town gives its name to the Battle of Hastings, which took place to th ...

Mount Eden Mount Eden is a suburb in Auckland, New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Z ...

, Miramar, Napier,

Nelson Nelson may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Nelson'' (1918 film), a historical film directed by Maurice Elvey * ''Nelson'' (1926 film), a historical film directed by Walter Summers * ''Nelson'' (opera), an opera by Lennox Berkeley to a lib ...

New Plymouth New Plymouth () 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, in Devon, from where the first English settlers to New Plymouth migrated. The New Pl ...

, Palmerston,

Timaru Timaru (; ) is a port city in the southern Canterbury Region of New Zealand, located southwest of Christchurch and about northeast of Dunedin on the eastern Pacific Ocean, Pacific coast of the South Island. The Timaru urban area is home to peo ...

and

Wellington Wellington is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the third-largest city in New Zealand (second largest in the North Island ...

. From 1979 the event was held permanently in Wellington.

Finals

Men's singles

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. From 1973 to 1987 the tournament was sponsored by the oil company BP and was branded as the BP New Zealand Championships. From 1988 to 1992 the BP National Championships was a Grand Prix/ATP level event and from 1993-95 was part of the challenger circuit. The New Zealand national championships no longer had BP sponsorship from 1988 and was a national event won by New Zealand players only.

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

. This tournament for all of its history was regarded as a national championships, and should not be confused with the men's BP National Championships 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