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.

ITF AGM Report

Paul McNamee, IC of Australia and Executive Committee member attended the recent ITF AGM meeting, as an observer on behalf of the IC. The main agenda matters were in relation to the Presidential and Board elections, and Paul had the following to report:

"I had a productive discussion with the chair of the ITF’s Rules of Tennis Committee, amongst others. I explained to the chair the history of the IC’s role as (previously) an observer on this committee, especially in its role as custodian of the spirit of the game.

We touched on issues such as consistency of time between points on the ATP and WTA Tours and at ITF events, scoring of matches (e.g. all Grand Slams are different in the 5th set), grunting and, importantly, investigations into the merits of in match coaching. Most encouragingly, the chair supported the concept of the IC’s observer role being reinstated. However, it would require significant broader support I imagine before the observer role could be reinstated.

One rule change which went to the floor of the AGM was in relation to rule 29 of the rules of Tennis to extend the time between points from 20 to 25 seconds. The remaining parts of the rule would remain intact, including the principle that play should be continuous.

The reasons given were:

(1) harmony across all bodies - ATP, WTA and ITF, given ATP & WTA operate on 25 seconds

(2) physiological, in that the demands of the modern game justify it

(3) data shows that it will only have a minimal increase on the length of matches

The motion was carried by a 92% majority.

Given the IC is an observer at the AGM, we are not in a position to comment on a proposed resolution on the floor, which makes it important that the IC may one day again have a presence at the Rules of Tennis Committee.

I do appreciate the support which was given to me by the IC Council to attend."