Tennis champion and trailblazer for Māori and women, Ruia Morrison, is made a Dame in the Queen's Birthday Honours.
Dame Ruia Morrison is recognised for services to tennis. Photo: © Photosport Ltd 2020 www.photosport.nz
Dame Ruia was the first Māori to compete in Wimbledon when she took to centre court in 1957 and came away from the famous tennis venue having made it into the quarterfinals. She would return in 1958, 1959 and 1960.
Links to Wimbledon remain among the 85-year-old's most treasured tennis memories.
As soon as Dame Ruia picked up a tennis racket, as a young girl in Rotorua, her father talked of British champion Fred Perry.
Perry, a former world number 1 during the 1930s, won Wimbledon three times.
Statue of Fred Perry at the All England Lawn Tennis Club in Wimbledon. Photo: PHOTOSPORT
A statue of Perry stands at the All England Lawn Tennis Club in Wimbledon and was the first photo stop for Dame Ruia and her sister when they arrived in London in 2013 for her to be inducted into the All England Club's Last Eight Club to mark her success on the grass court.
Years after her own appearances at Wimbledon, Dame Ruia discovered Perry had been paying as much attention to her as she did to him.
"He became an absolutely endearing friend to me," she said.
Invited to visit by Tennis New Zealand to mark the 100th anniversary of the organisation, Perry made sure to catch up with Dame Ruia which is a memory that she won't forget.
"My gosh, he never missed a beat. He told me the whole story about my life, everything I'd done, scores - everything, when I'd played, how much I got, it was amazing."
Dame Ruia was able to travel overseas to compete in the 1950s and 1960s because of donations by Māori from around Aotearoa.
She remained thankful for those that championed her cause, including the president and committtee of the Aotearoa Māori Tennis Association who she said worked "very very hard" to help her succeed.
"For every journey that I went on they did all the spade work, along with John Waititi, they were marvellous. So all I had to do was play tennis - and be good."
Dame Ruia has given back to the community that helped her and she encouraged athletes to break barriers and achieve their goals.
She volunteered her time as a coach and mentor to the tennis community and was involved with Aotearoa Māori Tennis Championships for many years.
Dame Ruia Morrison, second from right, with Serena Williams wearing the korowai. Photo: PHOTOSPORT
New Zealand's highest profile women's tennis event, the ASB Classic, recognised Dame Ruia's standing in the game, presenting the winner with the Ruia Morrison korowai.
Serena Williams was the last player to wear the cloak following her singles title win over fellow American Jessica Pegula at the last tournament in Auckland.
The korowai was presented for the first time, and so far only time, in 2020 to mark 60 years since Dame Ruia had won her first New Zealand Open singles title - on the same central Auckland court that Williams lifted the trophy.
That 1960 victory was a straight sets underdog win against Australian Margaret Court who had just won the Australian Open.
Court would end her career with 24 Grand Slam titles, while Dame Ruia would continue to have success on home courts and representing New Zealand.
Dame Ruia was the New Zealand doubles champion in 1961 and singles and doubles champion in 1962 and 1964.
She was Aotearoa Māori singles, doubles and mixed doubles champion in 1965 and 1970.
She captained and played for the 1965 New Zealand Federation Cup team against Argentina and Australia and in 1972 she was captain when the team played against Columbia, Finland and the Netherlands.
Dame Ruia is a life member of the Aotearoa Māori Tennis Association and Tennis New Zealand.
She was inducted into the Māori Sports Hall of Fame in 2004 and the Te Arawa Hall of Fame 10 years later.
Dame Ruia remained one of New Zealand's most successful female players but she hoped that the New Zealand system would turn out another woman who would be able to have similar success.
