Young tennis stars converge on Victoria

Victoria has become an ideal venue for aspiring athletes looking to climb the pro ladder. No sooner had the golfers on the Mackenzie Tour-PGA Tour Canada departed Uplands last weekend than the tennis players prepared to head into the Panorama Recreation Centre.

The International Tennis Federation holds a series of entrylevel pro tournaments around the world for promising young players, with the $10,000 ITF EncoreFX Victoria International back for a third consecutive year beginning today.

Consider the number of people playing tennis in the world. Then consider that the top 16 singles in the 32-player Victoria field all have international rankings between 400 and 1,200 in the world. There is also a 16-team doubles draw.

“Fans the last two years have been amazed at how these players hit the ball,” tournament director Eric Knoester said.

“And then you realize these players still have three levels to go before they hit the top 100 in world ranking, which represents where the Grand Slam players are. Tennis is like an onion. You peel away one layer of skin and then there’s another.”

These hopefuls crisscross the globe following their pro dreams. Among the highlighted players in the Victoria event is Naomi Totka of Hungary, a tournament returnee from 2015. Totka is ranked No. 413 in the world, and was the top seed at an ITF development tournament last week in Israel.

The singles qualifying will be held today and Sunday at Panorama. The main draw begins Monday through to the final June 19.

Most of the players ranked in the big-league women’s WTA have played in these ITF development tournaments. They range from the $10,000 US-level event through to $25,000, $50,000, $75,000 and $100,000 tournaments.

Seating is court level and admission is free.