JOHANNESBURG - Junior international tennis returns to Gauteng with two prestigious International Tennis Federation (ITF) tournaments, to be played in Johannesburg and Pretoria, over the next two weeks.
The first of the back-to-back tournaments, the ITF Wanderers, will start on July 24, with the finals scheduled for July 30 at the Wanderers Tennis Club in Illovo, Johannesburg.
The second tournament, the ITF Gauteng North, will be played from Sunday, July 30, with the finals being played on August 8 at the Groenkloof Tennis Stadium in Pretoria.
Both tournaments are Grade 4 ITF ranking events and form part of the International Tennis Federation’s Junior Circuit and offer world ranking points.
There are 33 countries, including SA, represented in the two events, which will have both boys’ and girls’ singles and doubles.
The countries represented are - Switzerland, Great Britain, Nigeria, United States of America, Tanzania, France, Botswana, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Kenya, Russia, Australia, Poland, Namibia, India, Korea, Lesotho, Israel, Mauritius, Togo, Brazil, Spain, Sweden, Turkey, Cote D’Ivoire, Belgium, Canada, Italy, China, Mexico, Korea and Latvia.
Richard Glover, chief executive officer of Tennis SA, said: “It is vitally important that we continue to host international junior events in South Africa, to give our juniors a chance of earning world ranking points in their own back yard.
“There are currently a total of seven ITF junior events in the country during the year and it’s satisfying to know that the ITF has confidence in South Africa to host these tournaments.”
Both tournaments will have a qualifying tournament, with the singles main draw for boys being a 48-player draw and girls being a 32-player draw, and the doubles main draw a 24-player for boys and 16-player for the girls.
The sign-in for the qualifying tournament for the ITF Wanderers will be on July 21, and July 28 for the ITF Gauteng North.