ACE JOEL TO TOUR WITH SA TEAM
GREY Junior tennis star Joel van Rensburg, 13, has been chosen to represent South Africa Schools at the World Junior Tennis Tournament in New Jersey next month.
Van Rensburg is the only lad from Port Elizabeth to be chosen for the South African Schools team. He is the No 1 player in the Eastern Cape at under-13 level and is also Grey Junior’s top tennis player for the past two years.
Van Rensburg has already started planning his future. He is in Grade 7 and will be moving over to Grey High next year.
“Once I am done with my schooling career, I would like to become a professional tennis player. I’d also like to become a coach later in my career and maybe open up a tennis academy,” he added.
The SA Schools team will compete against some of the world’s top junior school sides. The tournament will be held at the Abrie du Plooy Tennis Academy in New Jersey. However, tennis is not the only thing the team will be doing while in the US. They will also go on sight-seeing trips, as well as getting some lessons at the academy on how to improve their game.
This will be the first time that Van Rensburg will play in the national colours and he remembers the excitement he felt when he found out that he had been chosen. “I was so excited and the first person I told was my friend, Nathan,” he added.
It will also be the first time that Van Rensburg is travelling overseas to play tennis. He has represented the Eastern Province from U10 all the way up to U13.
Van Rensburg started playing tennis at the age of six and says he likes it because it is an individual sport and you cannot rely on anybody else. He added that “if something goes wrong you have no one but yourself to blame”.
His biggest inspiration and one of the reasons he started playing tennis, is the exploits of Rafael Nadal, he said with a smile.
Van Rensburg says the tournament would be quite daunting but it is a challenge that he is looking forward to.
“My progress in the tournament will depend on the strength of the competitors taking part.” said Van Rensburg. “If they are as strong as they say, I hope I can make it to the final,” Van Rensburg added.
Van Rensburg’s favourite tennis grand slam is the French Open Roland Garros.
“I like this tournament because it’s different to Wimbledon, at SW19 the points are very short, whereas in Roland Garros the points are much longer so you get to play more tennis,” Van Rensburg said.
He also has four players currently on the ATP tour which he regards as his favourites – Rafael Nadal, Kei Nishikori, Gael Monfils and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.
He said the reason why they are among his favourites is because of the brand of tennis they play.