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Ngqwele Dube
JUNIOR tennis player, Ethan Sibanda (14) who is on a tour of Europe has found the going tough, exiting the three tournaments he has played so far in the second round.
The player, who left for Europe last month, has featured in three events so far, namely the BNP Paribas at Stade Francois in Paris, France, the Windmill Cup in Osterbeek, Netherlands and the Balle Mimosa Loire-Atlantique (Nantes, France).
Sibanda began the BNP Paribas Cup on a high beating France’s Amelien Thionet-Hay 6-1, 6-1 in the first round but went on to lose in the second round 6-2, 6-2 to Arthur Fils.
In the Balle Mimosa Loire-Atlantique, he beat France’s Paul Inchauspe in the first round, 6-1, 6-3 before being booted out by Antoine Chibaudo also of France in the second round, 6-2, 6-4.
The Ihlathi High School pupil beat Steffan Van Weldam 7-5, 6-1 in the first round of the DunoAir Windmill Cup before crashing out 6-0, 6-3 in the second round losing to Luca Van Assche.
Sibanda’s father and coach, Tendai Sibanda said despite the struggles they are taking the experience as a learning curve, they hope to build on as Ethan grows in his career.
He said being Ethan’s first time playing at that level, he was bound to struggle but will take lessons from the losses.
“He certainly needs to up his game because the opposition he is facing is different from what he was used to locally and around Africa. He is saying the players are hitting harder than what he is used to and some of his opponents have the advantage of having to play more frequently and with better training facilities.
“While he is used to being a comeback kid locally, that trick does not seem to be working in Europe with the players, they don’t panic and rally to wins instead of crumbling like the opposition he is used to. They seem to be tenacious and tougher and are able to handle the late charges he would be making. If you look at the results while he might lose by a wider margin in the first set, in the second set he always does better,” he said.
Sibanda said he hopes Ethan will use the experience to get another chance to play in Europe next year and hopefully perform better.
He said it was critical to match European players at a young age as it is a sign he can compete at that stage later in his career.
“Tennis is about playing at the world stage and being able to match European players will be the telling sign how far one will be able to in his career, so we would want Ethan to improve his play and go back a better player next year,” said Sibanda.
Ethan was selected for inclusion in the African team touring Europe after coming third at the Africa Junior Championships that were held in March this year at the High Performance Centre in Pretoria, South Africa.
He is scheduled to take part in the 41st 39 Int. Deutsche Tennismeisterschaft in Duren, Germany that starts tomorrow before heading to either the consolation tourney, Young Champions Cup in Hasselt, Belgium or World Junior Tennis finals scheduled for Prostejov in the Czech.
Online Reporter