TZ proposes points awards for players

By Lovemore Dube

TENNIS Zimbabwe (TZ) has proposed a transparent ranking mechanism that will see winners of major local tournaments earn up to 300 points.

Rankings help when it comes to selection of national teams. Players that participate in events and do well stand automatic consideration to represent the country.

According to information released by the national tennis body, Category A events which earn the highest number of points include the Zimbabwe Closed, Inter-Provincials, Zimbabwe Open and the Masters.

The winner of these events gets 300 points at each competition with the runner up guaranteed of 200. Reaching the semi-finals assures one of 100 points with the third placed player accumulating 150 with the loser of that play-off receiving 50 less.

The fifth placed gets 75 and sixth 60 while seventh, eighth, ninth and 10th walk away with 50, 45, 40 and 38th respectively.

Just getting into the main draw of 32 players assures one 10 points.

Those already ranked under the International Tennis Federation (ITF) have a higher chance of topping the tables at home. Their points tally is multiplied by 10 and the figure added to his Zimbabwe total.

The Confederation of African Tennis (CAT) events also are considered and added to the Zimbabwean total. The CAT points are divided by four and added to the Zimbabwe digits.

Players who excel in the doubles in these international tournaments have their points divided by four and added to home figures.TZ have classified Provincial Open tournaments contested in Bulawayo, Harare, Masvingo, Midlands, Manicaland and the New Winners as Category B.

The highest number of points that can be earned is 200 with a runner-up getting 120 and third placed 80.The least number of points in this category is 0.5 for positions 26-30.All other tournaments sanctioned by TZ such as the Tarryn Leigh de Souza have a maximum number of points pegged at 100 for the winners.

Another event ranked at the same level is the Mantas Open in Mutare held every year.

Tennis has one of the most absorbing junior development programmes starting at Under-5 and with regular provincial and national tournaments.

There are several regional and continental tournaments every year where rankings come into use.