Marina Erakovic appointed to Tennis NZ Board

One of New Zealand’s most successful and respected tennis players Marina Erakovic has been appointed to the Tennis New Zealand board. The former world number 39 in singles, retired from playing on the WTA Tour at the end of 2018. Erakovic brings a wealth of knowledge and high-performance experience to the Tennis NZ Board.  She played on the WTA Tour for more than a decade while also representing New Zealand in Fed Cup and subsequently captaining the Fed Cup team in a successful Asia Oceania Group 2 campaign in February last year.

The 33-year-old won one WTA singles title in Memphis in 2013 and captured eight WTA doubles titles during a career where she reached the third round at Wimbledon three times and the French Open once in singles and notched up wins over the likes of former world number one Viktoria Azarenka and top 20 players Dominika Cibulkova and Vera Zvonareva.

Erakovic is thrilled to have the opportunity to contribute back to the sport she achieved so much in as a player.

“I applied and they accepted, and I just think it's a really cool opportunity to A, learn about behind the scenes of tennis in New Zealand and B, get involved with high performance and finding out what their pathway looks like for these youngsters, what's needed what's not needed but also to gain a bit of governance experience about being on a board looks like in
New Zealand. These are all really positive things and I'm very excited about joining.” Erakovic said.

Tennis NZ Board Chair Terri-Ann Scorer, said of Erakovic’s appointment “Marina brings valuable experience as a successful international tennis player and has a genuine interest in seeing tennis thrive in New Zealand as sport for all. Will (Ward) has made a significant contribution around High Performance over his three-year term. To be able to replace him with Marina, who not only brings a wealth of experience, but a real athlete centred focus, is fantastic. As a former player representative on the WTA board Marina also brings governance experience.”

Tennis NZ CEO Julie Paterson also welcomes Marina’s appointment. “TNZ management are all looking forward to working even more closely with Marina in this new role. It is incredibly valuable continuing to have genuine High-Performance experience sitting around the board table.”

Erakovic replaces Will Ward who is retiring at the end of his current term to focus on his tennis coaching, professional role and to spend more time with his young family. There are eight members of the Tennis NZ board, four elected and four appointed. The other board members are Lindsay Mouat (Deputy Chair), Fiona Stewart, John Penny, Lesley Ferkins, Peter Maciaszek and David Searle. Taylah Johnson is a board intern.