HIS PLAYING DAYS may be over but Conor Niland remains a central figure in helping to shape the future of tennis in this country.
Having retired three years ago, Niland was appointed Ireland’s Davis Cup captain at the start of 2015 and his immediate focus has centred around the forthcoming relegation play-off against South Africa.
Defeat in Centurion would see Ireland drop down to the fourth tier of the premier team event in international tennis for the first time since 2007.
“We don’t want to go down,” Niland tells The42. “We were in the same position last year and we had to play Egypt to avoid relegation so it’s not a situation that’s out of the ordinary for us.
“We find ourselves in a position where we have to win.”
The significance of the tie between 17 and 19 July is underlined by the inclusion of Irish number one James McGee in the panel. The 28-year-old Dubliner has taken the baton from Niland as Ireland’s flag bearer on the ATP circuit.
McGee recently finished runner-up at the San Luis Potosí event in Mexico on the Challenge Tour but as Andre Agassi said in his autobiography, “it’s definitely not a natural way to live.”
Having spent more than a decade chasing ranking points and prize money, Niland is in a position to fully appreciate the demands of travelling around the world trying to justify the means.
“Unlike teams sports, you’re not getting paid a salary and the money structure in tennis is very much geared towards rewarding the top players. When you’re down in the lower rankings, the prize money isn’t as good and you’re almost certainly making a loss.
“It’s a challenge,” Niland continued. “You’re on the road 35 weeks of the year and it’s quite a tough old existence, travelling around the world, staying in pretty average places a lot of the time with not many spectators but the dream is to make it to the big events and that’s what keeps you going.”
Niland fulfilled that dream with first round appearances at Wimbledon and the US Open, both in 2011. All the hard work was rewarded with a draw against Novak Djokovic in Flushing Meadows, only for a bout of food poisoning to hamper his performance.
“I had a good run at it,” the former World number 129 says reflecting on his career. “I really enjoyed my time, although I probably finished a little bit earlier than I would have liked.
“Of course, I would still love to be walking out at Wimbledon but I’m happy that I just had the chance to do it at all.”
Niland, who finished with three Challenge Tour titles to his name, became the first Irishman to qualify for Wimbledon in 31 years and he hopes it won’t be another three decades before we see another Irish player step out at SW19.
“When I was growing up in the 90s, we didn’t have anyone participating in the Grand Slam qualifying events, let alone main draws, and then in the last five years or so, myself, Luke Sorensen and James McGee have all broken through.
“There has been some good progress over the last few years and obviously we’d love to have someone with direct qualification into those events – that’s what Tennis Ireland need to strive towards in the coming years.”
Niland hopes to play an integral part in that.
After a distinguished playing career, as well as winning 17 of his 29 Davis Cup matches for Ireland, Niland knows what it takes to succeed in a cut-throat environment.
A two-year contract as Davis Cup captain has given him time, and the licence, to stamp his authority on the set-up and help give current, and future, players the guidance they need at this stage of their fledgling careers.
But for all the optimism, it will always be an uphill struggle to make an impression on the world stage. Tennis remains a minority sport in Ireland and with such a status comes a shortage in funding and a lack of necessary facilities.
“It’s hard to produce really elite tennis players,” Niland says. “Even the big countries only produce a handful of top players every generation so when we don’t have the facilities or climate.
“There are no indoor courts outside Dublin and if you look at the countries who produce a lot of players, they generally learn their tennis on clay court which is a much better surface to learn on than artificial grass which is the surface we have here.
“Look at golf – we have great courses, club systems, great facilities and we’ve a tradition of producing some of the world’s finest players.”
Niland’s role doesn’t extend to the grassroots level just yet but as he begins his coaching career, you get the feeling he has a determination to change Ireland’s tennis fortunes for the better.
“We haven’t been able to compete at the top level regularly but hopefully things change for the better. That’s the goal for Irish tennis.”
