Tennis team off to Egypt

Ellina Mhlanga Senior Sports Reporter

AN eight-member 14-and-Under Zimbabwean tennis team to represent the country at the Africa Junior Championships in Egypt left the country yesterday with coach Vincent Nyatoti confident of positive results.

The championships running from March 22 to 27 will be preceded by a warm-up event that begins tomorrow and ends on Sunday.

Tendekai Musabaeka, Makanaka Whata, Dilan da Silva and Tafara Nhokwara will compete in the boys section.

In the girls’ category Zimbabwe will be represented by Zahara El-Zein, Tinotenda Chipfakacha, Chanelle Zhuwakini and Thandiwe Nkala.

The limelight will be on El Zein and Musabaeka who are the top players in the team.

There have been some encouraging performances from the players in the past and some of them were part of the 12-and-Under team that won the Confederation of African Tennis tournament in Bulawayo while others took part in the ITF/CAT 14-and-Under also staged in Bulawayo last year.

However, most of them are competing at this level for the first time but coach Nyatoti is confident they can progress from the opening rounds.

He pointed out that this is also an opportunity for the players to check their progress since some of the players they are likely to face in Egypt were here for the ITF/CAT 14-and-Under which was also staged in Bulawayo last year.

“Those that are playing for the first time, obviously I think, yes, they can get through because the way they performed in Bulawayo was good and far beyond their age.

“And in this tournament maybe they will be doing a litmus test to see whether they have improved or not. But opportunities will always be there because when they played this side they played very well.

“Some of them they went like third round, quarter-finals and semis I think and then in one of the local tournaments, we had our local player also getting in the final . . . We hope they will get through when we get to Egypt,” said Nyatoti.

Some of the players they will face in Egypt were part of the tournaments in Bulawayo.

“Progression and expectations, every coach expects very good results and for them to go beyond the first and the second round.

“But the only thing that affect the whole thing is what comes out of the draw . . . But I feel like they equally have got chances to move beyond the first and second round all things being equal.

“But looking at our players like I think the highest ranked player from our side, for the girls is Zahara El-Zein. According to the entry list she is number seven on the list, which gives her equally better chances of progressing.

“On the boys side also, I think our highest ranked player is (Tendekai Musabaeka) being 12-year-old is 16 on the entry list,” said Nyatoti.

In the last few days they have been training on clay courts since they are the same courts they will be playing on in Egypt. The warm-up tournament is also expected to help the players acclimatise ahead of the main event.