Emmly George invited to Tunisia

Brandon Moyo, Sports Reporter

ZIMBABWE’S top young tennis sensation, Emmly George has been invited to participate in an Under-13 training camp and an Under-14 tournament slated for next month at the El Mouradi Palace Hotel in Sousse Tunisia.

The invitation came after the rising star’s exploits where she won gold in all local tournaments, Southern Africa Under-12 and silver at the just ended Africa Junior Championships. The training camp is set to run from 11-14 December while the tournament will start a day later, 15-18 December.

Participation selection was conducted after a review of performances over the year thus Zimbabwe’s young tennis star made the cut. A regional development initiative supported by the International Tennis Federation (ITF), the training centre will offer state-of-the-art facilities and provide talented players aged 13-18 with full-time training, schooling and competitive development.

The centre will be an intensive training hub with the long-term objective of helping more players from the region and the African continent as a whole progress to the sport’s highest levels. With the life changing opportunity at hand, her family is therefore appealing for assistance to facilitate her traveling up the north and upkeep expenses as well and this is also for the traveling coach. The young star is also in need of new rackets and strings as the ones she has are now small.

Having played and lost against the Tunisians in the African Junior Championships in Maputo, Mozambique last month, Emmly’s father who is also her coach, Mkhululi George believes this opportunity will come in handy as the exposure will help her become a better player than she already is.

“Exposure is very expensive for us in this part of the world, so when you are given an opportunity to experience tennis at such a stage, the psychological impact at first is huge. She will never be the same player again, these are things you can’t train, it comes with the exposure to bigger stages,” said George.

Announcing the camp, International Tennis Federation president David Haggerty said the centre will play a huge role in player development in the region.

“It is really exciting to be able to announce Sousse as the new home of the African Regional Training Centre, which will be an important and significant catalyst for player development within the region and beyond.

“There is so much talent and potential within Africa and Ons (Jabeur, world number two) being present for the announcement illustrates the opportunity which exists for players from this great continent to work hard, develop and perhaps one day also perform on the biggest stages in world tennis,” said Haggerty.  — Follow on Twitter @brandon_malvin