New Zealand Championships

In December 1886, the first New Zealand Championships were held at Farndon Park, in the small town of Clive, near Napier.^[3][4] The championships were organised by the New Zealand Lawn Tennis Association, which was formed in Napier.^[5]

The championships were held in numerous locations throughout the course of their history. The championships were not held from 1915 to 1918 due to World War I and also from 1940 to 1945 during World War II. Although the majority of the winners of the event were from New Zealand, a number of players from overseas also won the title, including Grand Slam singles winners Bill Tilden,^[6] Fred Perry,^[6] Vivian McGrath^[6] and John Bromwich.^[6] New Zealand's multiple Grand Slam singles winner Anthony Wilding also won the New Zealand championships title.^[6] Before 1922 the Australasian championships were held in New Zealand on two occasions, but this was a separate tournament from the New Zealand championships. From 1922 onwards the Australasian Championships were no longer held at New Zealand or Perth and the event changed its name to the Australian Championships in 1927.

From 1973 to 1987 the event was sponsored by the oil company BP and was known as the BP New Zealand Championships.^[7][8] From 1988 the event was a New Zealand national event and continued to be held through till 2020 when it was discontinued.^[9] The tournament was played almost exclusively on grass courts from its inception until 1988 when it switched to hard courts.

The winner of the first men's singles title was Percival Fenwick, and the ladies singles was won by Sarah Lance.^[9] The final winner of the men's singles title was Finn Tearney and the women's singles was won by Paige Hourigan.^[10] The towns where the championships were held included Auckland, Christchurch, Dunedin, Hastings, Mount Eden, Miramar, Napier, Nelson, New Plymouth, Palmerston, Timaru and Wellington. From 1979 the event was held permanently in Wellington.

The event was first known as the New Zealand National Lawn Tennis Championships or the New Zealand Lawn Tennis Association Championships. It was later shortened to just New Zealand Championships and historically sometimes referred to as the New Zealand Senior Championships.^[25] From 1973 to 1987 the tournament was sponsored by the oil company BP and was branded as the BP New Zealand Championships.^[26]

From 1988 to 1992 the BP National Championships was another separate Grand Prix/ATP level event and from 1993–95 was part of the challenger circuit. The New Zealand national championships no longer had BP sponsorship from 1988 and was a national event won by New Zealand players only.^[9]

• BP National Championships
• ATP Auckland Open
• WTA Auckland Open
• Category:National and multi-national tennis tournaments

This event should not be confused with the New Zealand Open Championships event that was first played in Auckland in 1969 and exclusively in that city until 1979 that was a combined event until 1981, and is directly descended from the both ATP Auckland Open and WTA Auckland Open.^[27] This tournament for all of its history was regarded as a national championships, and should not be confused with the men's BP National Championships tournament that was titled as such from 1988 to 1992 was also a different roll of winners.^[28]