Tennis official lifts lid

THE Rwanda Tennis Federation (RTF) Technical Director, Thierry Ntwali has hinted that the country’s inconsistent display in the Davis Cup is down to paltry resources. Since 2001 when Rwanda made her debut in the annual event which is rated as the premier team event in men’s tennis, the performance curve has been inconsistent. This year, top seed Jean Claude Gasigwa’s pre-tournament predictions that the team would struggle on Turkey’s hard court surfaces were spot on. With no training sessions done on hard court surfaces in the build-up to the Davis Cup, players had nightmares in Turkey. The team managed only one win in the entire tournament. However, Ntwali insists that Rwanda’s inconsistency is down to the fact that players don’t have the resources to play regular tournaments. The tennis official believes that the only way tennis can reach the next level is if players start playing more ATP competitions. “Claiming that the team failed because of the hard court surface is only a small part of the reason. The primary reason is because our players don’t get enough tournaments. “Most of our local players (senior) have only 11 weeks of tennis in a whole year. Junior players in other countries have at least 27 weeks of tennis while the seniors go as far as 48 weeks. These statistics clearly show that our players are way behind,” he noted. He added, “The only way tennis is going to get to the next level is if our players start playing in ITF circuits and other ATP events.” In Turkey, Rwanda were drawn in the Euro/Africa Zone of Group 3 alongside hosts Turkey, Estonia, Greece, Botswana, Iceland, Luxembourg and Madagascar with all teams chasing for promotion to Group 2. However, following the dismal show (one win in the week-long tournament), the country was relegated into Group 4. Estonia and Turkey topped the week-long tournament and were promoted to Europe/Africa Group 2. Davis Cup is usually contested between teams of players from competing countries in a knock-out format. Ends

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Tennis official lifts lid