Tennis coach calls for exposure
Botswana tennis team coach, Petrus Molefhe has said there is a need for players to be given exposure if they are to excel in international competitions. Speaking in an interview after the team completed its Davis Cup assignment in Brazzaville, Congo, Molefhe said that during his playing days, Botswana nearly got promoted to Group Two.
Botswana is currently ranked number 125 with 43 points. Molefhe said it was clear that local players need exposure playing abroad to have access to ranked tournaments.
He gave an example of one of Ivory Coast players ranked in the top 700 in the ATP rankings. He was ranked number six last year as a junior.
“The player is now based in France. The top Namibia players are based in Sweden. This is clear, we need to work much harder and start taking part in bigger events where big players play to improve to the next level,” he said.
Molefhe said during his playing days it was better because he had opportunities to compete outside and also received funding.
“Fortunately athletes had a busy schedule of high-level competitions and competed in big events like satellites and features, which awarded world ranking points at the highest level. That is where I got my ATP rankings as a player. I trained in Spain, USA, South Africa and Ivory Coast. I trained and played against players ranked in the top 35-1000 in the ATP World rankings,” he said.
Molefhe said during that period he gained a lot
of experience, which assisted him and his teammates in the Davis Cup.
He said the other players like Thato Kgosimore and the late Michael Judd played college tennis and played in tournaments during the holidays.
“I was under the Botswana National Sport Commission (BNSC) scholarship and the International Tennis Federation (ITF) also gave me a grant. That is what is needed for us to see our current crop of players going further in their careers,” Molefhe said. Meanwhile, Botswana Tennis Association (BTA) president, Oaitse Thipe concurred players need exposure. He explained that the plan was to host several ITF tournaments.
“We could have started in February and we were stopped by COVID-19. But we have entered a team for the ITF tennis tournament this month in Tunisia and Zimbabwe. The team is made up of Denzel Seetso, Mark Nawa and Oabona Koobatlile,” Thipe said. He said last year the plan was to have five weeks of ITF tournaments throughout the year in Botswana. Thipe said they intend to squeeze in three weeks of ITF tournaments between October and December.