Tennis South Africa hopes to host playoffs despite financial crunch – Tennis News
Tennis South Africa is working extremely hard to make sure that they host the Davis Cup playoffs in the upcoming future. They are under a lot of financial pressure; going through the crunch time and that might strip them of their
hosting rights but the efforts made by the Tennis South Africa are emphatically good. The Chief Executive, Ian Smith, is confident that they will get the decision in their favour despite the lack of finances to deliver a first class service to the visitors.
Smith state, “We don’t want to give a tie away again (if we reach the playoffs). We will have to play it here. We lose money every time we play in South Africa. Hosting a single (World Group) event costs in the region of R 1.5m
and now going forward we just have to find the money.” These were the comments made by Smith prior to the next year’s Davis Cup draws that took place on the eve of Wednesday.
Smith further added, “Giving away our right to host is not ideal for the sport. It took a couple of weeks of debating at board level and at the end of the day you are running a business. It was purely based on business sense and
we had to act in the best interests of the game going forward.”
The Chief Executive is extremely concerned about the income levels that have drastically dropped to almost nothing in the recent years. It has placed great pressure on them and also on the national governing body for the sport.
South African sport’s governing body is incapable of holding big events due to financial crunch and that has reduced the overall income generated by hosting the sporting events. Spectators want tennis icons at their disposal and
they have not been able to witness such activity for quite some time that has also diminished the interest of youngsters in pursuing tennis as their profession.
Moreover, the woes of the Tennis South Africa were enhanced by the 35th ranked Kevin Anderson who refused to participate in his country’s Davis Cup tie against Canada in Montreal that assisted in his nation’s failure
of reaching the top tier of the World Group. South Africa hasn’t been able to reach the elite status in Davis Cup for four consecutive years and that has definitely played an act of strong catalyst for decreased income.
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