3 International Tennis Federation events confirmed to take place in Durban
The events are expected to attract a mix of the best South African juniors and local fledgling professionals including Isabella Kruger and Philip Henning.
Generic image of a tennis player Picture: Hansmarkutt from Pixabay
JOHANNESBURG - Tennis South Africa has confirmed three combined men's and women's International Tennis Federation events will take place at Curro Hillcrest in Durban, KwaZulu-Natal, in June and July 2024.
The Curro Centre Court Series forms part of the ITF World Tennis Tour, which serves as the global body's pathway between the junior game and elite senior level.
The events are expected to attract a mix of the best South African juniors and local fledgling professionals including Isabella Kruger and Philip Henning.
Speaking to Eyewitness News, Jared Temlett, who is the operations manager of Curro Sport, said the series offers them an opportunity to, once again, show themselves as a driving force in the long-term growth of tennis in South Africa.
“Over the last ten years, Curro have been heavily involved in developing junior tennis in South Africa and we’ve run junior ITF events at a very high level,” he said.
“We’ve run some of the best junior tennis tournaments in South Africa, Africa and the world. Now, we’ve seen an opportunity to get further involved and the events in question that we are talking about are international events, which means it’s the international men’s ITF world tour and the international women’s ITF world tour with prize money.
“It’s going to bring the best international players to South Africa and give further opportunity to South African players to play international tennis within the borders of the country.”
Players ranked between 300 to 600 in the world will compete in the series.
It will see them compete in a combined M15 and W15 tournament between 17-23 June, a combined M25 and W15 competition between 23-30 June, and then conclude with a M15 and W35 event between 1-7 July.
The prize money for these tournament ranges from R277,500 to R560,000.
With South African tennis searching for new faces to take the sport to the next level globally, Telmett has discussed how the series benefits local players.
“They are able to now get world ranking points because how the system works is that you need ATP and WTA points to get an international professional ranking. So, our players playing these events gives them an opportunity to further their careers professionally. Also in them getting the points in South Africa, they are then able to use those points to gain entry into other events, whether locally or abroad.”
People around Durban have been encouraged to show up in their numbers to support the three week-long series, with Telmett confirming that there will be something for everyone on and off the court.
“The general public are not used to the opportunity of watching professional tennis live. We haven’t had a men’s professional event since 2021 and these are the only other events, other than the W60 which is hosted in Pretoria, for women. We really want to urge the general public to go to Curro Hillcrest.
“Entry is free and the public can just come down and enjoy really top-level competition. We are also going to make it really festive, with good food and entertainment. It’s an opportunity for all generations to be able to see the action, live on their doorstep.”