Matt’s crew break tennis drought

New Zealand, captained by Marlborough-based coach Matt Hair, have broken a 32-year drought by qualifying for the Billie Jean King Cup women's teams’ tennis World Group playoffs.

The team led by world number 45 Lulu Sun, beat Thailand 2-1 in Pune, India recently to clinch qualification, claiming four wins from five in the Asia/Oceania group one tournament, and will play off for a world group place later this year.

It was a historic effort – the first time New Zealand has progressed beyond the regional stages since 1993 – and Sun was at the heart of it, unbeaten in singles and doubles. While the level of her rivals varied across the week, the match play – in tough conditions, with temperatures about 40C at times – was invaluable.

Alongside Sun, the team comprised an in-form Monique Barry, plus Billie Jean King Cup debutants Aishi Das, Sasha Situe and Renee Zhang who all got game time during the tournament. Several US college players, plus doubles specialist Erin Routliffe, were unavailable for the trip to India.

The Kiwi team beat India 2-1, South Korea 2-1, Chinese Taipei 2-1 and Thailand 2-1 before losing their final match to Hong Kong, when qualification was assured and Matt was able to give the younger players some valuable experience in the international environment.

The forthcoming play-offs are being held during the week of 10 November 2025 at a venue to be confirmed. New Zealand is one of 21 nations competing with the format being seven groups of three teams. Only the winner of the group will progress to the qualifiers to be held in 2026.

Competing in the play-offs alongside New Zealand and India will be teams who did not progress to the finals this year from qualifying like Canada, Romania, Australia, Poland, Germany and the Netherlands.

The Billie Jean King Cup used to be called the Federation Cup (1963-1995) and Fed Cup (1995-2020). There are over 140 teams competing in the Billie Jean King Cup, with Italy the current champions.

Matt said the team’s focus on culture had a lot to do with their success.

“The culture within the women's programme is something we have been working hard to develop over the last few years,” he added.

“Having an inclusive, collaborative culture made the transition smooth for our younger debutants and allowed them to be authentic and contribute right from the get go. Our values were key to achieving team objectives and our overall goal of promotion.

“Lulu and Monique were instrumental in the process and led by example. They had a heavy work load and showed grit and determination in testing conditions clinching key matches throughout the week.”

Now, he is looking ahead to the stage of the campaign and a chance to mix it with some of the leading tennis nations.

“We are excited for the next phase … and testing ourselves on the word stage against some real powerhouse tennis countries.

“Hopefully we can pick up a home tie which would give us the opportunity to select the court surface, eliminate long distance travel and have the Kiwi crowd behind us,” added Matt.