Online Reporter
Zimpapers Sports Hub
GLORY GIJIMA, the acting president of Tennis Zimbabwe (TZ), is staring at probably one of the toughest rebuilding phases in recent times after the Davis Cup team’s painful relegation to Africa Group IV.
In August, Zimbabwe endured its worst Davis Cup showing in recent memory.
Playing at home, the team crumbled to four straight defeats against Senegal, Algeria, Nigeria and Namibia.
Not only did Zimbabwe lose every match 3-0; it also failed to win a single set throughout the tournament.
The squad, made up of young players Ronan Mtisi, Ethan and Mehluli Sibanda, struggled without their top man Benjamin Lock, who missed the event due to injury.
The result was a humiliating slide into Group IV, a division the country last featured in more than 15 years ago. Now Zimbabwe will rub shoulders with Africa’s lesser-known tennis nations — Congo, Angola, Ghana and Kenya.
It is a steep fall for a country that once boasted world-ranked stars and hosted packed Davis Cup ties.
Gijima does not sugarcoat the situation.
“The route to promotion will be long and hard. We need about five years to address the grey areas that will result in our comeback,” she said.
TZ has since re-evaluated its strategy.
Gijima believes the turnaround must start from the ground up.
“The Junior Tennis Initiative, which introduces tennis at grassroots level in schools and universities, will do the trick for us. In the past, we were failing to consistently feed the Davis Cup team from the grassroots.”
She, however, insists the transformation will not happen overnight.
Efforts are presently being made to lure players studying and competing abroad back into the national fold.
“We are reaching out to players in American and Australian colleges so that we get them to be interested in representing the country. This strategy is paying dividends in other sporting disciplines,” she said.
Among the diaspora talent are promising players such as Shane Tapera, Zamani Moyo and Tinaye Badza. But Gijima concedes that the pool of elite level players remains thin.
“Save for Benjamin Lock, we are not having as many players as we would want who are active on the competitive international circuit,” she added.
“There is need for the country to invest in elite tennis.”
TZ is trying to move past a turbulent chapter marked by infighting and corruption allegations.
In July, former president Walter Jera was removed from office, a decision later endorsed by the Sports and Recreation Commission.
Jera, however, has launched legal proceedings against the association, while the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission is investigating some officials over alleged financial misconduct.
“I would not like to dwell much on the negative things that happened in the past.
“All I can say is that we have made significant efforts to bring sanity and peace.
“We are definitely on the right path,” said Gijima.
For now, her biggest challenge is not the politics but the sport itself, trying to rebuild belief in a team that has fallen to a very low level from its glorious past.
And while the climb back to Group III may take years, she insists the journey has already begun.
