ITF

The national tennis centre that opened in Eswatini in 2019 has just four courts and is based at the OlympAfrica Centre, a multi-sport hub at the home of the Eswatini Olympic Committee. The national federation received a facility grant from the ITF to set up the tennis centre, and it has implemented a developing national sports structure (DNSS) with funding from Olympic Solidarity for coach education. In the past four years, another six coaches have achieved their basic certification, a major step forward given that Eswatini is the least tennis- developed country in the region. A slightly bigger national training centre is the one opened in 2003 in Mauritius. It has eight courts, locker rooms, a pro shop, restaurant and office. In 2019, the national association applied for ITF bronze level recognition, which acknowledges a standard of facilities and performance training one level up from the entry level of white status. If Mauritius achieves this – and it's already 80 percent towards meeting the criteria – it would become the first African nation to be awarded bronze status, which in turn would open the door to attracting funding from government and the Cap on Cap on Cap on Slam main draws. At 1.68m (5ft 6in), he will have to make up for a relative lack of height, but he told the ATP, "I might be a black, short, young tennis player and come from one of the most impoverished parts of the world, but my ambitions are to be a world champion and to inspire others like me." One of southern Africa's most successful recent players is Kevin Anderson, who reached two Grand Slam singles finals and a career-high ranking of No. 5. From Johannesburg, Anderson spent some of his early career at the ITF's former training centre in Pretoria. He retired last year, but announced a comeback in 2023. Lloyd Harris, from Cape Town, was also a top 100 player for over three years from February 2019 to September 2022 and a recipient of a Grand Slam Player Development Programme grant. Africa's leading male player at that time, he rose to No. 31 in the rankings after his run to the 2021 US Open quarter-finals. He recently slipped out of the top 300 due to injury but is on the rise again. If tennis in South Africa is still largely a white sport, in Zimbabwe the scales have tipped. Although all its Grand Slam titles have come from white players (Byron Black, Cara Black, Wayne Black and Kevin Ullyett), Zimbabwe is now producing a lot of players from all sectors of society, and there are now eight ITF junior tournaments in Zimbabwe compared with three just six years ago. This allows talented youngsters to benefit from playing tournaments without having to travel so much. While South Africa and Zimbabwe have had high- performance players coming through junior ranks, Botswana is not too far behind. The landlocked country has kept up a constant increase in the numbers of youngsters playing tennis, thanks to support from the ITF's Junior Tennis Initiative (JTI), despite there being no school sports in the country since Covid appeared in 2020. Masunga, herself from Botswana, says, "The national tennis federation has managed to fill the gap by ensuring tennis remains one of the recognised sports that keep up activity levels. The federation has increased the reach of tennis to parts of the country where it wasn't played before, and it's maintaining regular activities for 14-year-olds and under. They're doing a pretty good job." The establishment of national tennis centres is crucial as a training facility for high-performance players, even if those centres are relatively small. Seven of the 12 southern African nations have their own national tennis centres, and South Africa has tennis development centres and centres of excellence around the country. I might be a young tennis and come from the most impoverished parts of the my ambitions a world champion inspire others Kholo Montsi Above, clockwise from top South Africa's Lloyd Harris; M15 tournament in Mozambique; runner-up Ons Jabeur; Botswana's compete in Africa Group IV; Montsi; Mio soa Rasendra 38 Summer 2023 ITF World DEVELOPMENT

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