The Distinction Hotel Te Anau Tennis Invitational Tournament has drawn the strongest field in the event’s eight year history and will be a great showdown for New Zealand’s top eight male tennis players, one of the organisers Murray Willans says.

The tournament features former French Open doubles champion Mike Venus and experienced Davis Cup competitor Rubin Statham, along with other leading New Zealand players Ajeet Rai, Finn Tearney, Isaac Becroft, Alex Klitcharov, Oliver Statham, and Macsen Sisam.

“Rubin Statham will be a pretty tough contender. He will be one of the ones to beat. He’s won [the invitational] four times before. It will be hotly contested,” Willans said.

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The Te Anau Tennis Invitation on December 28-29 would draw at least 400 spectators, with at least 150-200 corporate seats and plenty of other grandstand seating available, he said.

The tournament was first held in 2013 as a Te Anau fundraiser and profits are channelled back into the local sport.

The invitational has become an important New Zealand tennis fixture, allowing New Zealand’s top men to have three hard matches before taking on the New Zealand and Australian Opens in January.

However, this year the New Zealand Open in Auckland has been cancelled, due to the Covid-19 situation and international travel restrictions.

The Australian Open is usually held in mid-January but has been pushed back to the beginning of February. It will be played in Melbourne.

Spectators enjoy a previous tennis invitational game in Te Anau: PHOTO: Te Anau Tennis/Facebook

Mr Willans said the Te Anau Invitational was the idea of his father, Ian, after the local tennis club built new high quality hardcourts, with the help of Te Anau Earthworks and other contractors.

“It is the same surface as they play on in Auckland, a top surface. You see it all around the world,” Willans said.

Only New Zealanders were invited to the invitational, which enjoyed strong support from Tennis New Zealand.

Sponsors help to foot the $21,000 prize pool, with the winner receiving an $8000 share of the pool.

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The event is organised by a large committee of about eight people and is still a fundraiser for the local tennis club, with the money generally ploughed back into coaching and maintenance.

The tournament was always relaxed and enjoyable and the players looked forward to coming to Te Anau, where they were pretty well looked after by the locals, Mr Willans said.

The tournament also provided a boost to the local economy, he said.

”People usually come from all round the place to watch them but we don’t know who is around this year,” Mr Willans said.