Tennis must up its game
TENNIS is growing exponentially throughout the sporting world and its popularity owes a great deal to its prestigious Wimbledon tournament played in London this time each year.
It is where some of the greatest players made their name over the decades since its inception in 1877.
It is where dreams for ultimate glory are realised – and in most cases shattered for those harbouring delusions of grandeur – in a two-week slugfest to find the king and queen of the centre court.
It includes players from both junior to senior level competing in various divisions in singles and doubles.
South Africa’s Raven Klaasen, who hails from King William’s Town, and Kevin Anderson are two notable individuals who carry the country’s hopes. They have the innumerable talents to hold their own against world-class opposition as proven in past competition.
According to Klaasen “there are few things that get tennis players heart racing, like being at their favourite tournament”.
And for him it has always been the Championships at Wimbledon, the home of tennis, where he wants to fight for the chance to be in the history books.
But as much as these players excel on the world stage, their success somehow fails to resonate back home with administrators and coaches in a constant struggle to entice youngsters both in the urban and rural areas to take up the sport.
It can only spell doom for the future of the game in this country if the situation is left as it is. There are just not enough talented players coming through the ranks and unless a more concerted effort be made, the sport will continue to lag behind the rest of the world.
The SA Open, before it was shut out of the ATP world tennis calendar five years ago, took pride of place in the domestic programme. Now not even much happens to get the tennis fraternity excited, the general public has just lost all interest.
Although there are a number of tournaments played around the country, there is a failure to highlight those showing great promise and give them much-needed exposure.
More should also be done to nurture young girls in the search to unearth the female gems.
The women’s game has for way too long not got the requisite respect it deserves. And utterances by former tennis legend John McEnroe this week about whether Serena Williams, the most successful women’s singles champion in world tennis, can hold her own on the men’s circuit “where she would be ranked 700” is way off-base.
It is a silly, demeaning and shameful statement that should be slammed right out of court.