Meet a member: Lorna Krog, IC of South Africa

Dubbed ‘South Africa’s first lady of tennis’, Lorna Krog is considered the doyenne of South African Veterans Tennis specifically, although she has also been involved in every other section of the game, namely Juniors, Open and Wheelchair.

Over 35 years ago, Lorna was one of a group of passionate individuals who established the SA Veterans Association. Today, she can be considered as the single most influential force behind the rise of Masters tennis in South Africa. As Chairmen and committee members came and went, she remained and continued to co-ordinate all the affairs and activities, including all administration, trips and tours undertaken by the members, the selection of National teams, inter-provincial tournaments, the SA National Championships and all the other local Masters events including those on the annual calendar (12-15 per year). She was CEO of the Masters Organisation until the integration with the SA Tennis Association in 2007, this in the interests of having all tennis in the country under one umbrella body. During her tenure she was responsible for raising the sponsorship of most Masters’ National Championships, Inter-provincial tournaments and World Championships held in this country (of which she organized, co-directed and directed three).

After the Masters was integrated with the National Association, she remained employed by the Association to continue running Masters tennis in the country. However, she was also part of the Tournament Committee which staged the SA Open from 2009 to 2011 after the SA Tennis Association was awarded a three-year contract by the ATP. She was a tough but fair administrator and was (still is) immensely popular with local and international players alike.

Also In 2007, Lorna was elected to serve on the Executive of the ITF and as part of her duties, was responsible for co-ordinating various age-groups at the World Team Events which were held in Turkey, New Zealand and Austria, to name but three.

Invited to become a member of the International Club by virtue of her contribution nationally and internationally to Tennis, Lorna was also part of the IC’s organizing committee which staged the Columbus Cup at Sun City in 2000.

For 13 years, Lorna was the Match Control Manager for The Nike Junior Tour International Masters.

Match Control is a key role for the success of the tournament and her expertise in this field is world class according to the Referees with whom she has worked at these tournaments – this includes Michel Renaux, the renowned French Referee. Nike Junior events have been held in South Africa, The Bahamas, France, Spain, Italy, the USA and the Dominican Republic. 

Lorna retired in 2011, but despite her passion for her grandchildren and her rose garden, she has been brought out of retirement on numerous occasions to assist and direct events since then. She still annually runs a highly successful Ladies doubles event at Sun City and served as the Honorary President of the International Club for six years.   

Whilst Lorna’s passion has been directed largely at administration, she is also an above average player, having been a SA ranked player in her age-group nearly all her Veterans life.

An IC Junior's sense of gratitude and perspective

Alongside most of the IC events, we try to organise a tennis clinic for less advantaged children and for those in difficult circumstances. Not only does this reflect the IC spirit but it is also close to our hearts with the worldwide IC Philanthropy projects.

Often, this is the most rewarding part of the event and always receives positive comments and emotions from all involved. The IC Rod Laver Junior Challenge 2019 regional events were no exception, so much so that a 16 year old girl from the IC of USA, expressed her gratitude and positivity in the following personal note:

"I would like to reach out and thank you personally for the amazing event in the Bahamas. Not only was the tennis competitive and exciting, it was great to meet kids from other countries. But, the activity that really stood out for me from the whole weekend was the service work. Working with the kids was an eye opening experience that helped me understand how grateful I should be for the opportunities given to me. Initially, I did not know what to expect from working with the kids from families who lost their homes to the hurricane, but what I did not expect was to see the joy on the kids faces, taking an unfortunate event and still being able to see the bright side. That is the type of mentality I want to bring into my everyday life. Thank you again for the great event."

Not only do we hope to make a difference to the lives of many young disadvantaged people, but also to give everyone the opportunity to learn life skills and have unique experiences through the sport of tennis.