ITF

36 Spring 2021 ITF World MEXICO There is a very strong and powerful coaching community within Mexico, which was witnessed during 2020 when tennis carried on despite some difficult circumstances. The number of coaches across the nation is vast, with more than 900 registered on the ITF Academy, and they are very active and conscientious with regards to educational activities. Indeed, the ITF Worldwide Coaches Conference has twice been hosted in Mexico – in Puerto Vallarta and Cancun – with great success. Mexico itself is a large tennis playing nation with a strong Davis Cup and Billie Jean King Cup tradition. The nation also has many impressive clubs, with some in the big cities like Mexico City, Guadalajara and Monterrey boasting up to 25 courts. Over the years, Mexico has had successful professional and junior players, although in the last decade or so they have been unable to establish a national player development programme. Where players have come through, in most cases this has been due to private efforts with support from the national association. With a WTA ranking within the top 150, the leading player currently is Renata Zarazua, who has received financial support through Grand Slam Player Grants. Renata, 23, is a great representative of Mexican tennis and has a bright future. There are other promising players, such as Fernanda Contreras, Marcela Zacarias, Ana Sofia Sanchez and Victoria Rodriguez, while stronger junior players are starting to emerge. Julia Garcia is ranked among the world's top 20 girls, while Alejandra Cruz is another with potential, as is Rodrigo Pacheco Mendez, who is just 15 years old and ranked No. 108 in the boys' standings. Hopefully more will follow in the coming years. Mexico is another nation supportive of ITF World Tennis Number and their data integration process is underway. This will strengthen participation of recreational players in a country that already leads the region in senior tennis. " NICARAGUA Nicaragua is a very small tennis nation and is the country with the smallest number of tennis courts in the region, with only about 20 in total. Their JTI, however, is very well organised, although with so few courts it is difficult for kids to develop. In addition, there is not a huge base of tennis coaches within the country. It is a chicken-and-egg situation: what do you need first, more courts to work on or more coaches? Despite this, work is ongoing to educate the coaches which Nicaragua does have and this has been well received. A high proportion of these coaches have received Level 1 in the ITF Coach Education programme and are working towards Level 2. To supplement the JTI, we are pushing Nicaragua to regularly compete in ITF junior team competitions, while the nation has been hosting ITF Juniors events for the past four or five years which is extremely important. I do, however, speak regularly with parents during workshops organised by the national association and there is a big cultural challenge in getting children to commit to sport after the age of about 14, which is when we ideally need them engaged. That said, Federacion Nicaraguense de Tennis is really striving to move the game forward in Nicaragua. " It is hoped that Mexico will produce more promising juniors in the coming years " " Coach educa on work con nues in Nicaragua

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