NWU set to host big international tennis events

The North-West University (NWU) will soon be the only facility in South Africa with five traditional clay tennis courts, two grass courts and ten hard courts – thanks to a project in partnership with Tennis South Africa (TSA).

The project, that launched on 26 February 2019, is aimed at upgrading the tennis facilities at the NWU High Performance Institute for use by all national and international tennis players. At the same time, the major infrastructure investment funded by the NWU addresses one of TSA’s biggest headaches: the lack of clay courts in the country.

One of the biggest tournaments set to grace the NWU’s new world-class tennis facility is the ATP Challenger 50 tournament from 8–15 March, as Tennis South Africa (TSA) managed to secure the rights.

This will be the first time the ATP Challenger will be held in South Africa since 2013. The Challenger events fall just behind the ATP Tour (250, 500 and Master events) as the second tier of the ATP tournaments.

The first tournament to take place on the new courts is a back-to-back International Tennis Federation (ITF) Junior Grade event set for 15-29 February 2020.

This will be followed by a combined International Tennis Federation tournament, hosted by the NWU as they have partnered with TSA. 32 men and 32 women from across the world will battle it out from 1–8 March for a $25 000 reward.

“As we looked into resurfacing our courts, we realised there was an area where we could potentially make a difference and we wanted to add value not only to our environment but also make a difference in the country,” NWU Director of Sport, Sheldon Rostron, said in a media release.

“We know that the lack of clay courts [there are only two private clay courts in the country] will allow us the opportunity to make a significant contribution as most of the tournaments and qualifiers take place on clay courts,” he said.

According to Rostron, the NWU strives to provide opportunities for athletes and students in sport. “[H]opefully through endeavours such as this we can retain talent and provide world-class opportunities, catering for the needs of our youth and top sport stars in this country.”

World number six wheelchair tennis player Kgothatso Montjane is elated about the facilities.

“The country has been in dire need of these tennis surfaces for the longest time and players like me know how important it is to have these facilities at home,” she said in a statement. “I had my first grass experience at Wimbledon last year and it wasn’t ideal to only experience that surface during the tournament. We will now be able to make great preparations here at home.” Montjane was the first woman from Africa to qualify for the Wimbledon tennis championships.

The deadline for completion of the full project had to be moved from the beginning of February to the end of the month due to the heavy rainfall Potchefstroom has experienced over the past two months.

“The weather has not played along, especially since this is not just a resurfacing of the courts,” Heléne Botha, sport manager of NWU Tennis, said. “They replaced the whole precinct, as well as the cable as it was rusty and became a safety risk.”

Simultaneously with the ATP tournament, a women’s tournament will also be hosted (not the WTA).

“Both March tournaments will be live-streamed, but I urge students to come and watch the tennis, especially the semi-finals and finals, as there are prizes to be won,” Botha said. 

In addition to the international tournaments, the NWU university team will host a tournament against Kovsies and Maties at the end of April.

The teams are going to play on the hard-courts and grass-courts in the one tournament. “It is new for university tennis that players get to play on two different types of surfaces in one tournament, so the other universities  are really excited,” Botha said.

NWU Tennis player and fourth-year LLB student Wilanie van Zyl (21) said, “It is a new phase for us as NWU players and it provides  us with plenty of new opportunities that we all are excited about.”

Hubert Badenhorst (22), NWU tennis player and BCom Honours student in financial accounting, agrees with Van Zyl. “We feel with the new courts we are getting a little more of an advantage over players from other universities as we get to train on these surfaces and put ourselves in different situations,” he said.