Superb tennis loses to the weather
Despite another week of top-class tennis from the best junior boys and girls players from around the world, junior tennis loses to the weather in the J300 International Tennis Federation (ITF) tournament at Curro Hillcrest in Durban on Saturday, 21 September 2024.
Continuing its support of Tennis in South Africa, Curro Holdings sponsored and hosted the event, sanctioned by Tennis South Africa, which saw some of the world’s top ranked U18 players vie for valuable ranking points on court.
Following the success of the previous week’s J200 tournament, the stage was set for another showpiece of grit, determination and sweat on court, but adverse weather had the organising team pulling out all the stops to continue the momentum and keep the tight match schedule on track.
As the final day of the tournament week dawned, the team worked tirelessly to progress the event to the semi-final stage of both the boys’ and girls’ singles and doubles draws. For the first time, feelings of hope and possibility were palatable around the venue that the event may indeed reach a conclusion. In the end, the weather gods had chosen the day to conjure up feelings of hope and possibility, mixed with eventual frustration and disappointment.
“It’s out of our hands as we cannot control the weather, but we have to appreciate the importance of this event, the caliber of players we have and their commitment to travelling from around the world to be here to further their careers,” said Jared Temlett, Project Manager at Curro Sport. “Our role is to ensure they have the opportunity to play and showcase their skills and it’s a massive disappointment to have to eventually call the tournament at this late stage.”
Temlett and his team had play extending well into the night on numerous occasions throughout the week as the floodlights came on and precious playing time was utilised. In accordance with ITF regulations, it became something similar to a magician calling on all his tricks and prowess to ensure the show went on.
With no possibility of play being carried over to Sunday due to many of the players having to travel, it came down to the singles semi-finals which scheduled Anna Maria Fedotova (Dominican Republic) and No 1 seed, taking on the J200 champion Maayan Laron (Israel) and Britain’s Flora Johnson, No 3 seed, meeting J200 losing finalist Mika Buchnik (Israel), the No 2 seed, in the girl’s draw.
For the boys, it was Allan Gatato (Burundi), No 6 seed, up against Japan’s Kohshi Ishibashi and Nikolai Barsukov (Germany), No 5 seed, facing Kriish Tyagi (India), the No 4 seed.
All these matches were highly anticipated and after waiting to get on court all day, it was only after 8pm on Saturday that play was possible with the threat of rain still imminent. And so it proved as one match was deep into the first set and another barely started when officials and players had to dash for cover once more.
“It was frustrating as we even shortened the sets to try and make up time with the possibility of still getting some game time on court. Although the rain did stop for a few hours, it must be remembered it still takes another two hours in these cold conditions for the court surface to be playable again,” said Temlett.
A pall of disappointment hung over the courts just after 9 pm as the players and coaches accepted there would be no more play and despite the banter and posing for final photographs, the raindrops forming small puddles on the court ensured a streak of deep despair among the players.
“There is no prize money for these events but points gleaned from such a tournament are of vital importance to the players and their careers. We have seen on numerous occasions in the past how players have used the points gained at our events to springboard their careers into the grandslams. It’s a massive undertaking for us and I am so proud of the team and their efforts under extremely trying conditions. We have done everything this week to ensure the integrity of the tournament in giving the players maximum opportunity.” said Temlett.
The doubles were called off at the semi-final stage with the points shared among the players.
Next up are weeks four and five of the Curro Centre Court Series in Stellenbosch from 1 to 15 December.