Busy Easter for junior tennis

The tournaments are scheduled to start today with the Manicaland Open pencilled to begin today and end on Sunday.
The Zimbabwe Junior Closed will get underway on Monday next week and will finish on Wednesday.
The players will compete in the Under-10, Under-12, Under-14, Under-16 and Under-18 age groups and four provinces — Harare, Bulawayo, Midlands and the hosts — have confirmed their participation.
Tennis Zimbabwe administrator, Cliff Nhokwara, said the Zimbabwe Closed tournament, which was usually held in Harare, will now be held on a rotational basis in different provinces as the national association spreads the game to all parts of the country.
“We are going to different provinces, the tournament will be hosted on a rotational basis depending on who applies to host the event.
“It used to be more concentrated in Harare but now we are spreading to other provinces,” said Nhokwara.
Tournament director for the two events, Genius Chidzikwe, said all provinces are expected to take part in both events.
“We have about 80 players who have confirmed their participation but I think another 20 or 30 will come because there are some who have not given us their entries. We are expecting more players because of the Zimbabwe Closed.
“Everybody would want to come and play because this is the biggest junior tournament we have in the country,” said Chidzikwe.
“We are starting with the under-10 who have not been competing and I think it’s going to be an exciting age group.
“The players will obviously be playing for national ranking points which is a bit of a guideline for the players who will have trials to represent Zimbabwe in different tournaments.
“As the national association we are trying to promote the players and the sport.
“The more tournaments we have the better our players, in addition they get ranking points,” said Genius.
Pauline Chawafambira is the defending champion in the girls category while the boys section remains open as last year’s winner, Innocent Mhere is now over 18 years old. and will not be taking part.