adminEllina Mhlanga Sports Reporter
TENNIS players who were hoping to compete in the International Tennis Federation Futures event that had been put on cards by Tennis Zimbabwe will have to wait a little bit longer after it was postponed to next year.The national association were hoping to hold the event next month at Harare Sports Club but they were forced to move the competition to next year after the International Tennis Federation indicated that the event can only be held in December.
The tournament was going to be Zimbabwe’s second Futures after a seven-year break TZ revealed they were going to host two US$15 000 tournaments as per ITF requirements after securing sponsorship from last year’s sponsor, 23rd Century Systems who put in US$40 000 for the event.
NetOne also came on board but the total package was not revealed. TZ administrator, Cliff Nhokwara, said they agreed with their sponsors to move the competition to next year after deliberating on the dates proposed by the ITF which they felt were not favourable since it will be close to the holidays.
“We are not hosting a Futures this year. The dates we were given by ITF are not favourable because they are too close to holiday, so we have decided to have them (tournaments) in the first half of next year.
“We are now contemplating on having one week of the Zimbabwe Open, we are trying to finalise on that,” said Nhokwara.
Nhokwara said in terms of sponsorship it will remain the same but they will have to apply again to the international federation next year to host the event.
“For now it remains the same, hopefully it will not change but we have to submit an application to host the event next year.
“In a way it should help us in the sense that now we are going to schedule our Futures and tie the tournaments with our Davis Cup, so that we can use them as part of preparations for Davis Cup.
“We have to wait for the announcement of the Davis Cup dates by ITF and then use it as a warm-up event,” said Nhokwara.
Last year Zimbabwe co-hosted the event together with neighbours, South Africa, but for this year the latter had already indicated that they could not fit the event on their calendar.
Zimbabwe’s top player, Takanyi Garanganga, won last year’s event after beating South Africa’s Keith Crowley in the finals.
Online Reporter