24 Apr 2023

The ITF World Tennis Tour juniors tournament, which wrapped up in Gaborone on Saturday, has shown that local players had a long way to go, technically.

No local player reached the finals, but Botswana Tennis Association (BTA) officials are happy with the exposure, experience gained and level of play of upcoming players.

"Apart from the fact that we did not go as far as desired, the level of performance by local players was good and it actually helped them improve their rankings," BTA president, Oaitse Thipe said of the tournament, which was played in two legs of one week each.

Thipe also expressed confidence that the tournament would help local players fare better in other upcoming tournaments such as Botswana Open.
He said the aim was to expose local players to high and intense competition.

Tournament director, Matshediso Malope noted that the meet managed to attract participants from across the world. "Participants came from as far as Japan, Canada, Australia and Great Britain," he said. 
Malope, however, said the number of female participants was lower than expected.

Malope also said local players needed more exposure and competition in order to fight on an equal footing with players from developed countries.

He said their best results were in singles, where their last player was eliminated in the quarter-finals while in doubles they managed a silver.

In the ladies finals, Celina Joseph of South Africa grabbed gold after defeating her fellow countrywoman, Danielle Chapman 6-2,6-2 while Benedict Badza of Zimbabwe lost 6-3,7-5 to Allan Gatoto of Burundi.
Joseph attributed her win to her ability to stay positive under pressure and difficult conditions. She also said she was happy with the level of competition. "I learned a lot and gained experience from this tournament and I would certainly love to come back in the future," she said. 

For his part, Gatoto said his opponent gave him a tough time, but he was well prepared for him. He also said he approached the tournament with a positive mindset, which he said helped him to win.

The next tournament on the calendar for local players is the Botswana Open, which will be played in July during the President's Day holidays followed by the J30 and J60, which will run from August 14 to 29.
The J60 and higher level J100, which will be played from September 25 to October 7, will wrap up BTA activities this year. Ends