17 Jul 2014

It will be a busy weekend for tennis stars as Botswana Tennis Association (BTA) will be hosting the country’s biggest tennis competition- the Motor Centre Botswana Tennis Open.



As usual, the annual tournament, which starts on Saturday (July 20) and ends on Tuesday (July 22), will attract top players from Botswana and the rest of the southern Africa region.



Organisers confirmed this week that current top ranked Botswana player, Phenyo Matong, who has dominated the men’s singles category for the last two editions, will be on show. 



BTA secretary Boikobo Gaolebalwe said in an interview that other top players that will battle for the men’s singles crown include Shingirai Muzondiwa, Allen Phetogo and Aobakwe Lekang.



“What I can assure you is that our top players will be competing at this tournament,” he said, adding that they were expecting players from countries like Lesotho, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Namibia and Mozambique.



Though the registration was still in progress on Thursday, Gaolebalwe said the response was good: “So far we have more than fifty registrations from local players and we are expecting foreign players to confirm their participation as well. We have sent invitations to countries in Southern Africa and I am expecting them to confirm participation on Friday.”




The 28-year-old Matong thrashed Zimbabwe’s Malcolm Mtungamiri 6-0, 6-1 in the final to win the competition last year.

As the country’s leading tennis player, Matong is once again a clear favourite to retain the crown.



However, he will have to turn around a wobbly form this year which has seen him lose four out of his five matches in the International Tennis Federation (ITF) Circuit.



His last win was in March when he defeated Jerome Hood 6-1, 6-4 in the Canadian Futures qualifiers.

Since then, he has lost in first round stages at three ITF Futures competitions in South Africa in May and June.

Long time sponsor Motor Centre last week unveiled an improved sponsorship package for the competition.

They have sponsored this year’s tournament with P160 000, and the prize for winning the men’s singles has increased from P7 200 to P10 000.

 The winner for the ladies singles will pocket P6 000.



There will also be doubles, mixed doubles, juniors, and veteran categories. 
Zimbabwe’s Fadzai Mawisira is the defending champion in the ladies singles category.  ENDS