Junior tennis players miss out

IT’S usually a busy schedule for junior players during this period as they prepare for the 18-and-Under tennis events that run for three weeks in Harare.

But, due to the Covid-19 pandemic, it’s going to be quiet as the events have been shelved for now.

August usually sees Zimbabwe hosting the 18-and-Under events at Harare Sports Club.

And, up-and-coming players take advantage of the tournaments being home, to get international exposure, as they face players from across the world.

However, just like several tournaments that have had to be put on hold, the events will not be taking place as per the usual schedule.

The 18-and-Under events have become a permanent feature on the tennis calendar since 2011.

Tennis Zimbabwe manager, Cliff Nhokwara, said it’s unfortunate they cannot host the tournaments under the circumstances.

“The 18-and-Under has been cancelled, remember we have three weeks of the 18-andUnder in August,’’ he said.

“It has been cancelled, with the guidance from the International Tennis Federation and the current situation in Zimbabwe, we could not host it.

“It’s a setback for the kids who were looking at getting international recognition, use this to get tennis scholarships in the USA.

“But, then, it hasn’t necessarily tennis people only.

“We just hope changes in the academic affected calendar will help us find ways for the players to benefit.

“It will create an opening for us to resume tennis events locally, create an opportunity for players who fail to participate in August events.”

Having suspended their events, for the past four months, ITF tournaments are set to start making a comeback next month.

Nhokwara said they will stand guided by the international federation on how they should proceed.

This includes the 18-and-Under that was set for August and Futures events which usually take place in June.

But, he pointed out that there is a lot to consider, including the school calendar for the junior events.

“However, if there is an opportunity later in the year, we could look at November, December, if the situation improves. “Obviously, we will be guided by ITF.

“For example, the ITF tournaments are starting end of August. The period between April to August, there are no events, tournaments are only starting in the last quarter or the last third of the year, that is end of August.’’

He said many other events have been affected. “June, July we had a lot of events affected. June we have the futures events, then the August ones and it is one of the many events affected,’’ said Nhokwara.

“Futures, again, we will be guided by ITF, we can’t just decide where we want to fit them.

“Already, we had other events pushed. It’s work in progress. August events haven’t started anyway.

“ITF will give us guidance again.”