Sunday, Oct 14, 2007
Gulf News
Dubai: The UAE Tennis Rankings System will be split into separate competitions for seniors and juniors from the start of the new season.
Now in its second year, the UAE Tennis Ranking System is a unique move from all responsible clubs, coaches and entities in the country to have a uniform grading for players.
While Tennis Emirates (TE) is the parent body, the entire programme is being fuelled by Media City-based Delwood Sports Consultancy. Last year's inaugural rankings system had seven tournaments for seniors only.
In an attempt to get enhanced involvement from a cross-section of players in the country, the officials concerned have decided to have at least 20 tournaments during the season.
The move comes following a meeting at the Dubai Country Club last week between Tennis Emirates represented by Slah Bramly and Eric Gottschalk from Delwood along with coaches and officials representing tennis clubs and academies in Dubai and Sharjah.
"The focus is to create separate circuits for seniors [called the Elite Performance Circuit] and for juniors [called the Junior Performance Circuit] and ensure that both these go hand in hand so that we can foster development of existing players and at the same time attract more youngsters," Slah Bramly, technical director of Tennis Emirates told Gulf News.
Bramly admitted that their resolve was further boosted by the belief that the Dubai Tennis Championships may one day see a UAE player go past the first rounds in the near future.
"To achieve this goal, we need to have a good competition system starting from the grassroots level," Bramly stated.
"It is no longer going to be participation for participation sake. It's going to be for the sake of performance as we need to develop these players and give them suitable conditions to fulfil their dream of having tennis as a career," Bramly said.
"One of the crucial elements will be to organise camps for schools with a focus on mini, under-10 and under-12 players," he added.
Meanwhile, registration of players will continue for the next few weeks. All tennis players in the country have been requested to register, failing which they will not be allowed to participate in tournaments in the UAE.
Gulf News 2007. All rights reserved.
