Curro Holdings is proud to announce its involvement as tournament sponsor and host of two of the upcoming International Tennis Federation’s (ITF) five in-country events. Working with Tennis South Africa (TSA), the two events provide an opportunity for the country’s top junior players, including 8 Curro learners, to play against some of the best in the world, including Bjorn Borg’s son Leo, while also inviting international visitors to South Africa.
The tournament series, Junior 3, Junior 2, and Junior A level will be held between 9th – 29th October. The J3 and J2 will be held between 9th – 22nd October at Stellenbosch Universities’ Coetzenburg Stadium, while the JA will be held between 23rd-29th October at Kelvin Grove Club in Cape Town. The latter is the closest equivalent to a Junior Grand Slam event and will see the world’s top under-18 players battle it out on the court for the much-needed ranking points on offer.
Vying for this position, among Curro’s players is the in form Luc Koenig. He is currently ranked 160 in the world. Teen sensation Koenig is a firm favourite over the fortnight having won the Grade 3 event in Johannesburg last month.
“We are extremely proud of our local junior players who are joining us from across the country for the upcoming series of events. At Curro, we pride ourselves on the development of high-performance tennis players and that is something we begin teaching from the age of 5. This allows us to train, shape and mould our learners into exceptional junior players, some of whom make it through to this level of international competition,” comments Jared Temlett, Operational Manager Curro Sport.
He says that Curro is committed to developing young tennis talent at all its schools with some schools employing up to six full time professional coaches who work tirelessly to develop this talent.
“Tennis is a flagship sport at our schools and we have invested heavily into our offering to a point where Curro is now arguably among, if not the best school for tennis development in the country,” he says.
The ITF tournaments are played around the world and are the Gold Standard in junior and professional tennis. While Curro has sponsored 14 tournaments in partnership with ITF since 2015, this is only the second time that South Africa has played host to a Grade A event.
“These events put South Africa on the map. We do have a slight disadvantage being so far away from other countries as it means that our players do not always get access to international talent which is key to developing their skills. By bringing the world to us our players are exposed to top talent which not only improves their game but also their ranking should they win. It is an honour to be a host for two of this year’s tournament series,” says Temlett.
In addition to the two Curro hosted events, the Grade A finale event, held at Kelvin Grove on 23rd – 29th October, is set to draw in a massive public interest and is a key calendar event for anyone with a keen interest in seeing top tennis talent in action. The event will be live streamed as well as televised live on SABC TV.
Temlett concludes by saying that history has shown many of the GA tournament’s winning players will go on to compete at the highest level internationally and ultimately become professional after turning 18.