25 Aug 2025

Botswana has become the fourth African country to adopt the World Tennis Number system, International Tennis Federation (ITF) Southern Africa Development Officer, Tapiwa Masunga has revealed. 

Speaking during the launch on Friday, Masunga  expressed the ITF’s satisfaction with Botswana’s decision to implement the initiative. 

She noted that South Africa, Egypt and Angola were the other African countries already using the World Tennis Number.

She said the initiative was critical in ensuring that data was collected on the players around the world. World Tennis Number provides a global standard for players. However, Botswana Tennis Association president Oaitse Thipe said World Tennis Number was a rating that they were going to utilise in all their local tournaments. He said it was also a global rating system designed to provide a more accurate measure of tennis skill level.

He said some of the benefits were that it assisted both beginners and seasoned players to find athletes with similar ability and enhances their game experience. Thipe said all their tournaments would also feature World Tennis Number rating, aiming to provide greater transparency and a clearer understanding of each player’s level. 

He said in the past, some players were dissatisfied because they were matched unfairly against opponents of different skill level due to lack of data. “But now with the World Tennis Number, and at the same time Botswana hosting more tournaments, it means we are going to be feeding more information into the World Tennis Number. Thipe said they would also use their website to make sure that the accuracy of their seeding’s and draws were managed efficiently. ENDS