ITF

32 Winter 2021 ITF World DEVELOPMENT Tango Tango Tango South America – consisting of 10 ITF member nations, all of which are Spanish speaking except for Brazil – is a continent with a rich and very proud tennis tradition and one synonymous with great names. The likes of Guillermo Vilas, Jose Luis Clerc, Andres Gomez, Gabriela Sabatini, Gustavo Kuerten, Marcelo Rios, Nicolas Lapentti, Fernando Gonzalez, Nicolas Massu, Juan Martin del Potro, Pablo Cuevas and Diego Schwartzman have all achieved so much and are hugely inspirational figures. It is fair to say, however, that the history of South American tennis sways more towards the men's game, which is why there is now significant investment in women's tennis, both to bring more girls into the sport and develop their talent. There is also the need to increase the number of female coaches as my region has the lowest percentage in the world, with only 9.2 per cent of all coaches here women. With the peak of the Covid-19 pandemic now hopefully behind us, we are witnessing a significant increase in the number of people playing tennis: courts are full, events are back and tennis has grown throughout the region. To paint a picture, there are very few public courts in South America. It is within private clubs, invariably on clay, that players, whether in terms of recreational or competitive tennis, are developed. As the ITF, we are working closely with national associations to implement projects to boost participation further, with the most significant being the Junior Tennis Initiative (JTI) and ITF World Tennis Number. Indeed, the region has fully embraced the digital transformation led by the ITF and all 10 nations have signed up to the ITF World Tennis Number global rating project, which will continue to be rolled out in 2022. One of the region's great successes, meanwhile, has been coaches' education, with approximately 25 per cent of all those registered on the ITF Academy from South America. Incidentally, all 10 of my nations have ITF recognition for their coach education systems. There are a lot of good things happening in South America and I am now going to guide you through my region and provide a snapshot of the development and participation picture there. Thank you for reading. Below Cesar Kist has been the ITF's Development Officer for South America since May 2015 At the ITF, there is an increased focus upon participation as the drive to broaden opportunity, support talent and work towards achieving an ambitious target of 120 million people playing tennis globally by 2030 continues. Throughout 2021, ITFWorld has circumnavigated the globe and reported on what is happening in terms of participation and development within its various regions. In the latest in this series, we catch up with Cesar Kist, the ITF's Development Officer for South America, as he provides an overview of his region before acting as our guide as we traverse a fascinating continent. A C ont i ne nt a l A C ont i ne nt a l " " ITFWorld takes a trek around South America, looking at development and participation throughout the region and providing a snapshot from each of the 10 ITF member nations there.

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