Roundup from the world of tennis – Part Two
CALTEX with Techron’ Pakistan Open Tennis tournament, starting from 25th Dec, 2010
The seven-day ‘CALTEX with Techron’ Pakistan Open Tennis tournament 2010 will be held at the Pakistan Tennis Federation (PTF) Complex, Garden Avenue, starting from December 25th, 2010.
The President of the Pakistan Tennis Federation, Syed Kaleem Imam, during a news conference confirmed the news on Monday saying, “The competition will be played in five categories ‘men’s singles, men’s doubles, ladies singles,
junior under-18 singles and boys under-14.”
The event will be sponsored by ‘CALTEX with Techron’. It will help the PTF to discover and promote talent that could represent Pakistan at the highest level of the game.
The federation is working extremely hard to raise awareness regarding better training and practice at the junior level along with a strong transparent system and helping talented players proceed in the right direction.
Tariq Imam said that a four year plan had been prepared to uplift tennis in Pakistan. According to the plan, the overall performance of the federation will be reviewed and steps for further improvements will be taken. Holding tournaments
at small levels in order to improve the standards of the game is part of the plan.
“We will hold events at the school and college level from all over the country and would try to get sponsorship for that. Our aim is to hunt the hidden talent to make tennis a popular game of our country. And under our four-year
plan we hope to get sponsorship from multi-national organizations, banking sector and mobile companies”, he said.
Moreover, under the plan, the services of qualified and experienced coaches for upgrading the new and young talent would also be utilized. The PTF is also looking for suggestions and guidance from famous tennis contenders and those
who want to see the country at the pinnacle of glory. Their recommendations and suggestions for improving the quality of the game would be given immense importance.
The President further added that the official website of the PTF would also be launched in the near future where all tennis lovers would be able to get updates on the happenings in the world of tennis.
Nicolas Mahut and John Isner to play again at the Hopman Cup in 2011
The American tennis player, John Isner and Nicolas Mahut of France surpassed a couple of records at the grass court Grand Slam tournament in London, where they took part in the lengthiest clash ever played in the history of professional tennis. The match was
stretched to three days and eleven hours.
After setting their names in the annals of history, both the contenders, however, did not face each other for the rest of the season. The field for the next year’s Hopman Cup to be held in January, however, has placed them against
each other in the opening match of the tournament.
Mahut was called upon to compete in place of Gael Monfils of France for the championship’s mixed doubles after the top ranked Frenchman pulled out of the event as a result of his knee injury. The right hander will team up with
Kristina Mladenovic.
The marathon match winner, Isner, on the other hand, has already been selected to represent his country in the Hopman Cup and the two contenders will begin the battle on January 3rd.
This creates a lot of curiosity as to whether this encounter will be as dramatic and shocking as the previous one which featured a total of 183 games at the All England Club.
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