The Southern Lakes tennis team looks set to dominate the southern quadrangular tournament to be held in Invercargill this weekend.
The Lakes team went through all six ties unbeaten last season and continues to have impressive depth on the men's side.
Perry Crockett, the Wanaka professional coach, is a former ATP tour player, and has proved very solid up to national level, claiming a win over former Davis Cup player James Shortall, among others.
Lan Bale, a former top-ranked world doubles player, and Mark Milburn, a recent New Zealand top 10 player, now concentrate on coaching but can still beat most of the best in the region.
Riki and Ben McLachlan have been playing ITF junior tournaments all around the world but are back home for this week-end.
The talented Chris Bradley is also available.
The Lakes women will be missing Li Ying Moroney and Suma Ito through injury and are rumoured to have picked up another Chinese player but she will also be unavailable.
Their squad is a family affair, with Felicity and Louise Oxnevad supported by Adele and Lucy Robins. They should provide enough support to get the team results.
Otago men's lack of depth is shown by the selection of two veterans, Ken Thomson and Phil Mirfin. They are still getting results in Dunedin club tennis and deserve their place.
Dwayne Cleugh and Conrad Wong will play in the top order.
By contrast, the Otago women are all teenagers.
Libby Scott and Brittany Wong have had plenty of tough matches in junior events recently,while Jessie Watson and Rebecca Walker have past experience at this event.
Southland is always stronger in its home stadium but traditionally struggle in this event.
Top woman Amy Mulvey could be one of its stars.
- by Dennis Radford
