On 16 September Digicall announced at their headquarters in Craighall Park that three consecutive Futures Tournaments will take place in Stellenbosch in November.
Digicall chairperson Altmann Allers was joined by Tennis South Africa (TSA) vice president Riad Davids, director at the Stellenbosch Academy of Sport Rob Benadie, and Le Roux Conradie of Caylix Sport Management and the new tournament director. The four men formed a panel for the media announcement.
The Digicall Futures Tournaments will take place from 31 October until 22 November and will be played at the Maties Tennis Club, Coetzenburg Sport Grounds and at the University of Stellenbosch consecutively. The tournaments will include singles and doubles events for both men and women. Each event will carry R800 000 in prize money.
The Futures Tournament is an opportunity for local players to compete against international adversaries to collect vital points needed to advance in professional tennis. Players in South Africa need to travel overseas to win tournaments that count toward their careers. Futures is part of an attempt from TSA to build a South African circuit in which players can advance themselves without travelling excessively.
Despite Kevin Anderson’s recent success, tennis in South Africa is not prolific. Although it has hosted one in previous years, South Africa is currently without an SA Open. Davids believes that grassroots initiatives like the Futures Tournaments are the way forward for tennis development. “We will have [another SA Open] when we have everything ready and there is sufficient hype around it,” said Davids, “Another SA Open will be on the cards, we’re just getting our ducks in a row.”
