El apoyo que ha recibido Renata Zarazúa por parte del Grand Slam Development Fund (GSDF) le ha llevado en los últimos años a participar en eventos importantes, y por supuesto, a que esta semana esté en Roland Garros.

Conversamos con Dermot Sweeney, Director Técnico de los Centros de Entrenamiento y Jugadores de la ITF, sobre los grants que ha recibido Zarazúa, quien desde 2017 ha percibido 87,500 dólares por parte del programa.

“Es genial ver que (Renata) ha retomado la competencia desde donde la dejó con buenos resultados en Praga antes de la clasificación para Roland Garros”, dijo Sweeney sobre Renata, que este año también alcanzó las semifinales de Acapulco.

Los grants del GSDF, entregados a inicios de año, buscan ayudar a jugadores contribuyendo de manera directa a los gastos de competición.

“Esta iniciativa tiene como objetivo tener más naciones y jugadores representados en las competiciones internacionales, en particular los torneos de Grand Slam, Copa Davis, Billie Jean King Cup y Juegos Olímpicos” explicó Sweeney.

Pese a la pandemia y sus efectos colaterales, la ITF tiene por objetivo continuar con el programa el año próximo, aunque los detalles de los criterios de selección y los fondos disponibles se confirmarán más adelante en el año.

The support that Renata Zarazúa has received from the Grand Slam Development Fund (GSDF) has helped her to participate in important events in recent years, and of course, this week at Roland Garros.

We spoke with Dermot Sweeney, ITF Technical Director, Tennis Centres and Players, about the grants given to Renata Zarazúa, who has received 87,500 dollars from the program since 2017.

“It is great to see that she has picked up from where she left off since the resumption of tournaments, with some very promising results in Prague prior to qualifying for Roland Garros”, Sweeney said of Renata, who this year also reached semi-finals in Acapulco.

The grant, were awarded at the start of 2020, is a direct contribution towards the players’ competition-related costs.

“This initiative aims to have more nations and players represented in the mainstream of international competitions, particularly the Grand Slam tournaments, Davis, Billie Jean King Cup and the Olympic Games”, Sweeney explained.

Despite the COVID-19 pandemic and its collateral effects, the plans at the moment is to have the Grand Slam Grants Programme next year. Details of selection, criteria and the funds available will be confirmed later in the year.

By John Goede

On Thursday July 16th, I organized a Live Instagram through cotecctennis with the topic of Adult Tennis.

Presenting were the National Associations of the Bahamas (Everette Munroe), Trinidad and Tobago (Secretary General Jermille Danclar), Suriname (President Diego v.d.Zwart) and Bermuda (President Mike Wolfe).

Based on the reactions and questions during and after the session, it is clear that there is need for more attention on adult tennis, including programmes and competition formats. 

The speakers, who all are part of the executive of the respective named nations, unanimously named Adult tennis as an important key to the resiliency of the sport in each country. Adult Tennis keeps the game alive and a few general notes are presented here before we follow the individual nations.

• Adults have daily and weekly tennis appointments and are still competitive;
• Adults often serve as a role model for the game and as a sign for a healthy life style;
• Adults preserve the joy of the game of doubles;
• Adults in tennis will be the pool with volunteers to assist in national development.

The ITF have their flagship Team competitions which are the Davis Cup and the Fed Cup. These competitions are extremely popular in the world and provide athletes the opportunity to stay highly competitive and represent their nation as a team on the international scene.  The format of singles and doubles has been copied to the U12 Team Competition, the World Junior Team Competition and the Jr Davis Cup and Jr Fed Cup.

As competition drives the sport, Bermuda’s President Mike Wolfe and Trinidad’s Secretary General, Jermille Danclar presented their respective adult programmes during the session, where club tennis and team tennis are integral parts of the competition. 

Bermuda

Bermuda has been on official lockdown for four weeks from early April. Before the closing of the sport activities, the government of Bermuda did provide protocols for athletes and recreation. Eventually Bermuda called for a complete lockdown.

After the four weeks, performance athletes were gradually allowed to continue training outside of the home area , still with the strict protocols provided. Tennis opened in the second week of May.

Cricket is one of the leading sports and the CUP Match, where East plays West in an established national event where the national sporting public, media and athletes live towards.  The Bermuda government had to cancel this popular event because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Bermuda Lawn Tennis Association(BLTA) reacted!

From the advise of the ITF and COTECC, where the attention on the safety and quality of the national event organization was promoted, Bermuda created a calendar of activities instantly and build strong competitions for Juniors (all categories) and Adult athletes.   One such a competition has been within the Team Concept. The name of the event was the 2020 Tennis Cup Match Classic and was played in Davis Cup format starting July 25th. The BLTA chose four players and a reserve to represent St. George’s (East) and four players and a reserve to represent Somerset (West). The youngest player was 15 yrs and the oldest 33.                   

Two non-playing captains lead the teams.  David Thomas for East Bermuda and Jenson Bascome for West Bermuda. Both non-playing captains are part of the Bermuda Coaches Association, former Davis Cup players and passed the ITF CBI certification. Captain Bascome is the first Bermudian tennis player to receive the Davis Cup Commitment Award. He met the criteria for the award after making his 50th Davis Cup appearance.

The format of the 2020 Tennis Cup Match Classic:

• Two days of competition;
• Best of three Tie Break sets
• Captain on court
• 4 Singles and 2 Doubles
• Two days of competition with a sudden death singles in case of a tie.

The spectators (distanced) loved it while they had their whistles, air horns etc making a lot of noise. The event proved to be very successful and will take a strong position on the 2021 BLTA calendar.

What can we all learn from this:

• Build quality events on a national level and include adults;
• Doubles can be part of all recreational and performance training and competitions;
• Use your former players as role models for juniors and inactive adults and senior players;
• Maximize the opportunity in the country to build a strong base for tennis development.

Por Cecilia Ancalmo

A medida que la gente comenzó a salir de sus casas después de semanas de confinamiento, la Federación de Tenis de Nicaragua decidió tratar de ofrecer una competencia a la población de tenistas masculinos adultos

Nicaragua es un país de Centroamérica donde el Gobierno no ha impuesto ninguna restricción a la población o a la economía para detener la propagación del COVID-19. Por el contrario, cuando los países vecinos estaban encerrados, el gobierno de Nicaragua estaba promoviendo festivales callejeros, juegos de béisbol y una pelea de boxeo. Sin embargo, las personas que comprendieron la seriedad de la pandemia se encerraron por iniciativa propia.

Pero a medida que la gente comenzó a salir de sus casas después de semanas de confinamiento, la Federación de Tenis de Nicaragua decidió tratar de ofrecer una competencia a la población de tenistas masculinos adultos. Empatizando con las realidades difíciles que la gente está viviendo, planificaron una competencia que ofrecería muchos partidos, y tendría una cuota de inscripción más baja de lo habitual. La competencia ha sido un éxito, que planean replicar.

Estos son los detalles: 20 jugadores, categorías B y C, distribuidos en 5 equipos de 4 jugadores. Jugaron partidos de individuales en un formato de round robin,   y si la puntuación del encuentro terminaba en 2 – 2, jugarían un partido de dobles para deshacer el empate. Cada victoria valía 2 puntos, excepto los dobles de desempate, que valían 1 punto. Debido a que los jugadores querían más juego, el equipo ganador en el round robin se clasificó para la final, y los equipos que terminaron en 2o y 3o lugar jugaron para el otro lugar en la final.

Julio Mairena, árbitro y uno de los organizadores de la competición, compartió que ha sido una experiencia valiosa y motivacional para ellos llevar a cabo ese torneo. Además, compartió la idea de que al organizar eventos durante estos tiempos de COVID-19, los árbitros deben ser muy estrictos con la aplicación de las medidas de salud. Anunciaron el protocolo a los jugadores, con bastante antelación, y siempre lo aplicaron. Esto llevó a otros jugadores ausentes a confiar en la organización y pedir una oportunidad para competir, por lo que habrá más eventos próximamente, con más jugadores participando.

Para obtener más información sobre la competición, póngase en contacto con Julio Mairena a jcesarm90@hotmail.com