Beach tennis launched in attempt to grow game and serve up aces
BEACH tennis may seem like a game only reserved for December holidays but Tennis SA hopes it will serve as an entry point for the sport as it looks to unearth future stars.
TSA officially launched beach tennis yesterday with four tournaments scheduled on the South African sporting calendar.
As an added incentive the Rand Show TSA Beach Tennis Challenge will double up as a selection competition for the ITF Beach Tennis World Championships, in Russia, in August this year.
The winners of both the men’s and women’s doubles categories will become South Africa’s first ever representatives at the global championships.
TSA chief executive Richard Glover said the federation had spent the last 12 months trialling beach tennis across the country as part of their plans to grow the sport from grassroots level upward.
“We started to grow and experiment with new formats in which beach tennis is obviously one and a few people asked me ‘why beach tennis, shouldn’t you be focused on sorting out normal tennis?’” Glover said.
“That is a good question but we really believe that beach tennis can help us grow classic tennis around the country.
“There are various reasons why we are relaunching it; there is the accessibility reason, the evolutionary reason, and the versatility reason.”
Glover said they believed the format would speak to youngsters while it could be played on almost any surface which made it accessible and affordable in terms of its developmental goals.
“From a versatility perspective, you also need to think laterally in terms of the sport because it is not just about playing on the beach down by the sea,” he said.
“This is a sport that can really be played anywhere as long as you’ve got some dirt.
“So for us with tennis courts being so expensive to build we think it is an interesting tennis development initiative to roll out to previously unserviced communities.”
Beach Tennis is an approved International Tennis Federation (ITF) discipline and South Africa is one of 47 countries around the world where the sport is now being promoted and played.
The first ever ITF international Beach Tennis prize money event in South Africa will be held at the Arnold Classic Africa in May, while two more TSA Beach Tennis Classics are planned for the same month.
“Visit any beach in South African during the festive season and you will see a wide variety of people playing a simple form of beach tennis, with a paddle and ball,” Glover said.
“What this demonstrates is that beach tennis is fun, easy to play and appeals to all ages.
“It offers a simple and easy entry point into our sport and we think it is a dynamic platform from which to grow tennis in South Africa.”
The format is played on a standard beach volleyball court with Beach Tennis paddle bats instead of racquets and slightly depressurised tennis balls.
The net is 1.7 metres high which is slightly higher than that of normal tennis, while shots are full volleys while traditional scoring is used.