SA's Wimbledon Trio has put tennis back in the limelight

Cape Town – The CEO of Tennis South Africa (TSA) Richard Glover congratulations Kevin Anderson Raven Klaasen and Wheelchair Tennis Star SA, Kgothatso (KG) Montjane for his collective exploits at Wimbledon 2018.

Anderson and Klaasen both lost their individual and doubles finals while Montjane reached the semi-final of the wheelchair singles [19659004] TSA issued a long statement congratulating the three as well as describing future developments for tennis in the country.

The statement reads:

"On behalf of the TSA, I would like to congratulate Kevin, Raven and KG for their fantastic performances in London these last two days." All the credit for what they have accomplished, but at the same time TSA thanks the trio for putting local tennis back into the public spotlight.

Kevin, Raven and KG come from various backgrounds and have followed divergent paths to get As a result, their achievements will symbolize different things for different communities across our country.In a TSA perspective, the trio obviously represents the best of local tennis, but more importantly, they also symbolize what local tennis could become on a consistent – diverse, inclusive and the delivery on a world stage.

Indeed, the collective realization of the three players has the potential to considerably advance the efforts from TSA – to bot h rectify past imbalances and allow more emerging South African tennis players to achieve similar success.

First to Kevin – His 2018 Wimbledon was so much more than the final – it was a dozen magnificent performances, extreme physical stamina and impressive mental strength displays. However, his post-match interviews were perhaps most impressive, in which he demonstrated his integrity, sportsmanship and humanity. He is an incredible ambbadador of our sport

My opinion that TSA has not done enough to support him earlier in his career is well documented. My opinion on this subject remains unchanged and, as a federation, we are trying to learn from the past and put in place a more comprehensive program to support our elite junior players and our rising stars.

For example – this year at Wimbledon, we had a player qualifying for men's singles and two players at Junior Wimbledon (one in the main draw and one in the qualifiers). In the last 12 months, these three players have received support from the TSA, whether it is financial support or badistance in obtaining ITF grants or support for itinerant coaches. Meanwhile, elsewhere in our structures, we also provide monthly funding to five players from our Davis Cup and Fed Cup teams.

Is this a step in the right direction? Yes it is

Is this enough? No, that's not it.

Next to Raven – While Kevin has received much of the media attention and concentration, Raven's run to reach the men's doubles final also requires mbadive congratulations. It's a great personal achievement, but also historically significant – for the transformation of tennis in South Africa. Raven is a wonderful model and a leader in our sport and, in my view, could be a future President of Tennis SA

People Criticize Tennis in South Africa to Be Elitist and do not do enough. transforming the game. We take this criticism to heart and are committed to inclusive growth through a number of key interventions.

To mention just two of these interventions, we are deploying five Growthpoint development centers in historically underserved communities. South Africa. Three are in place, with two more to follow. These have both a basic objective and high performance – the basis in terms of increasing participation in tennis in these communities and high performance in terms of giving the most talented children in these communities a real chance to compete in those communities. a higher level. [19659002] Meanwhile, from a supervisory perspective, we also launched a new BNP Paribas Coaching Mentorship program aimed at expanding the demographics of registered coaches in South Africa by creating more sustainable opportunities for black coaches and / or female. 44% of the first year are black females.

Is this a step in the right direction? Yes it is

Is this enough? No, that's not it. There is still much to be done

Finally, KG, who represents our sister organization, Wheelchair Tennis South Africa. The first black African woman to participate in SW19 – she is a pioneer, a barrier breaker and a history maker. She could inspire a new generation of women to practice our sport. By the way, the work of Wheelchair Tennis SA has to be applauded and TSA has a lot to learn from them – especially in the field of database development.

One of the strengths of tennis is that it is a sport that is played and supported almost equally by men and women. From TSA's point of view, we are increasingly focusing on investing in women's tennis and with the support of our new partner, Wiphold, there are several new projects in this area. For example, our new traveling team Wiphold U16 provides funding and support to selected girls, representing all communities in South Africa, to compete in international competitions. Meanwhile, Louisa Mojela, the CEO of Wiphold and one of the leading business leaders in South Africa, is now a boss for local women's tennis and is starting to do a good job behind the scenes.

Is this a step in the right direction? Yes it is

Is this enough? No, that's not it. There is still much to do

Thank you Kevin, Raven and KG. You have created a huge wave of interest in our sport and TSA now needs to ride this wave – for the sake of tennis in our country!