Queenstown Tennis Club’s rallying to support top prospect Kai Milburn with a fundraising tournament at its Gardens courts tomorrow.
The 16-year-old, who just won the Otago Open in Dunedin over the weekend, has been named captain of New Zealand’s under-16 Junior Davis Cup team that’s playing an Asia/Oceania regional tournament in Kazakhstan in May — his brother Dan, 15, is first reserve.
However, the fundraiser’s also aimed at supporting Kai to go to other International Tennis Federation (ITF) tournaments this year, including in Australia and Japan, to try to lift his U18 ranking points — currently sitting at 549.
He’ll also warm up for Kazakhstan, a clay tournament, by practising on clay in Canberra, Australia.
The ITF recently recognised his talent with a $US12,500 grant towards his travel and accommodation costs this year — ‘‘it’s a game-changer for us’’, says his dad Mark, who’s also his coach.
Queenstown Tennis Club’s aiming to raise a further $10,000 to $15,000 tomorrow.
It’s fundraising through entry fees and auctioning off eight ‘pros’, including Kai and Dan, as doubles partners — and also through a silent auction.
Club president Teresa Chapman says they’ve already had support from members who can’t make the event.
‘‘They’re making quite sizeable donations because of who Kai is — it’s not just his ability, it’s his attitude to the club, to everybody on the court.
‘‘He is a Federer example for kids going forward.’’
They’ve even had a $400 donation from an Auckland tennis academy.
Chapman notes there are also extra travel costs due to Kai coming from Queenstown.
Mark says an aim this year would be for him to qualify for the end-of-year Junior Orange Bowl champs in Florida, in the United States, which the world’s top juniors play, then to make the Australian Open Juniors early next year.
Club captain Karen Mitchell quips: ‘‘We just want to be in Kai’s box when he’s playing the Australian Open one day.’’
Tomorrow’s tournament starts 9.30am and finishes about 3.30 with an exhibition match between Kai and Dan — spectators are welcome.
