Aces on and off the tennis court

POLOKWANE – The two Magagula brothers are taking tennis in Polokwane by storm.

Amos (28) and his younger brother, Abel (25) plan to take tennis in Polokwane to a whole new level with their Amos Tennis Training Academy, which has about 40 players already training under them.

Amos and Abel started training in tennis when Amos was 14 and Abel was 12, and were introduced to the sport at school.

“The tennis courts were only a kilometer away from our school and me and my brother went to play just to try it out.

“That’s when we fell in love with the sport,” says Amos.

The brothers became so good in the sport that they later competed in International Tennis Federation (ITF) tournaments, with Amos playing against the top South African tennis player and world number 17, Kevin Anderson.

Amos started coaching tennis seven years ago, while Abel started a year ago.

Amos says he has two students who have made him extremely proud, Takalani Molawa and her brother, Refilwe, who have both competed in international tennis tournaments.

“The key to being a great coach has no formula, it takes hard work, dedication and the will to still learn more,” say the brothers.

In their spare time, Abel and Amos read up on the sport to learn as much as possible and help their students perform better.

“Our whole life revolves around tennis, it is a part of life for us,” says Amos.

He says his strongest shot is his forehand drive, while Abel says his strongest shot is his backhand drive, but asked who is the best player between them, they both laughed and pointed at themselves.

Amos and Abel have advice for players who lose a match: “fight for it, challenge your opponent by coming back, have faith in yourself, believe in yourself and never ever give up”.

Both brothers say their tennis hero is Rafael Nadal, however Amos feels that the best tennis player who ever lived is Roger Federer, while Abel feels it is Novak Djokovic.

“Roger has peaked twice in his career, few players have ever done so, and that is why I think he is the best ever,” says Amos.

“Novak has been really consistent throughout his career and is currently number one in the world, so I think he is the best ever,” says Abel.

The two agree that the coach who brought them the furthest in tennis is Charles Mehlape.

“We were coached by a lot of coaches in our lives, but Charles was the best of them all.”