Online Reporter
Zimpapers Sports Hub
TENNIS ZIMBABWE acting president Glory Gijima is aware of the difficult task that lies ahead for the Davis Cup team following its recent relegation to the less fashionable Africa Group IV.
In August, the team was embarrassed during a five-nation Africa Group III tournament at the Harare Sports Club, crumbling to four straight defeats to Senegal, Algeria, Nigeria and Namibia. In performances that will go down as their worst in a Davis Cup campaign, Zimbabwe failed to win a single match and lost all the matches by identical 3-0 margins, to earn a demotion.
Zimbabwe, which was represented by rookies Ronan Mtisi, Ethan Sibanda and Mehluli Sibanda, failed to win a single set during the week-long tournament.
Zimbabwe’s top player, Benjamin Lock, missed the tournament due to injury.
In Group IV, Zimbabwe joins minnows Congo, Angola, Ghana and Kenya.
The demotion marked a significant setback for local tennis as the country has not been in Group IV in nearly a decade and a half. It is in the wake of relegation that Gijima is reckoning that a comeback to Group 111 is not going to be a stroll in the park.
“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,” Gijima said.
To address the situation, Tennis Zimbabwe, according to Gijima, has re-evaluated the country’s tennis strategy.
On many occasions in recent years, Zimbabwe has been relegated and promoted on different occasions.
Gijima talked about the development programme that she believes will ensure a continuous supply of talent to replace retiring top players.
“The Junior Tennis Initiative, which introduces tennis at grassroots level in schools and universities, will do the trick for us,” she said. “In the past, we were failing to consistently feed the Davis Cup team from the grassroots.”
She noted that transforming developmental players to become Davis Cup team members will not happen overnight.
In the interim, Tennis Zimbabwe is making efforts to woo those players who are playing tennis in mostly American and Australian universities to represent the country.
“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.
Zimbabwe has promising tennis players at universities in the diaspora, among them Shane Tapera, Zamani Moyo and Tinaye Badza.
Gijima partly attributed the recent demotion to a lack of investment in elite tennis.
“Save for Benjamin Lock, we are not having as many players as we would want who are active on the competitive international circuit,” she said. “There is need for the country to invest in elite tennis.”
Tennis Zimbabwe has been rocked by infighting and allegations of abuse of funds against officials.
In July, Walter Jera, the former Tennis Zimbabwe president, was removed from office, with the Sports and Recreation Commission endorsing a decision that was made at the association’s special general meeting in May.
A defiant Jera has since started legal proceedings against the association.
The Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission is also investigating some of the tennis officials who are being accused of a litany of offences.
Gijima acknowledged that all has not been well at Tennis Zimbabwe.
Sounding reconciliatory, she insisted that peace had since returned to the organisation.
“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 in the right path.”
