Agreement to grow tennis

2006-04-10 19:20

Johannesburg - The partnership agreement between the ATP Tour and South African Airways is sure to benefit tennis in this country.

That is the view of ATP Tour executive chairperson and president Etienne de Villiers who is in the country for the announcement of the arrangement.

The three-year partnership with SAA sees the airline become the "Official Airline of the ATP". The multimillion-dollar global partnership coincides with the airline formally joining the Star Alliance.

But the deal, which was brokered by the SA Tennis Association (Sata) chief executive Ian Smith - on a golf course rather than a tennis court - is sure to have a positive spin-off for the game locally.

De Villiers, who took over the ATP Tour job from Mark Miles, is South African born and bred and is keen to see a resurgence of the sport in the country.

"We are looking to grow the tour in countries where the sport will take root," said De Villiers on Monday. "I would love to see tennis grow at grassroots level and not just be seen as a middle-class sport.

"Now that SAA have taken the ATP Tour on board, it would make sense to have an international tournament in South Africa."

He added that world number one Roger Federer, whose mother is South African, is also enthusiastic about playing in the country. "We would like to tie in his Imbewu Charity and Star Alliance to bring an event to South Africa."

The problem though is to find a relevant date on the calendar that would encourage some of the top players to come out the country. "It's not impossible that the Australian Open could be moving to another date and that could open up a number of opportunities," said De Villiers.

As a result, an official ATP Tour event is unlikely to be staged in the country until 2007 but there could be challengers or exhibition tournaments organised prior to that.

- SAPA