Dubai: A top official of the UAE Tennis Association (UAETA) has called on for urgent and serious measures, failing which the country is bound to languish in the development of tennis in the future.
The UAE were relegated to Group IV of the Asia-Oceania Davis Cup following their 0-2 loss to Syria in Colombo on Saturday. Put in Pool B, the UAE won just one tie — a 2-1 result against Turkmenistan — while losing to Qatar, Lebanon, Malaysia and finally Syria in the relegation play-off.
A win against Syria could have kept the UAE in Group III but Omar Bahroozian lost his opener in three sets to Yacoub Makzoume. Fahad Al Janahi then caved in to former UAE-based Kareem Allaf in straight sets to hand the war-ravaged country an easy win and the right to stay back in Group III for another year.
“I don’t think our problem is with the players we have at the moment, but with the non-involvement of clubs in a development programme that can give us players to represent the UAE,” Ahmad Abdul Malik, Vice-President, UAETA told Gulf News from London.
“A few years back we had nearly all UAE clubs with tennis courts which was our breeding ground for national team players. Today, we have none of these clubs involved with tennis and the sport has suffered as we have to make do with what we have. I call upon the authorities like the sports council in the UAE and the General Authority of Youth and Sports Welfare (GAYSW) to rescue tennis by making it compulsory at club level as that is where we can get our players from,” he added.
The UAE made their Davis Cup debut from Group III way back in 1993 and managed to stay in the group for a good four years. Once they dropped into Group IV in 1997, it took them another five years to climb back into Group III. Since then, the UAE has alternated between the two groups.
“Tennis in the UAE needs help and it has to come fast. Do you think this is a task only for the association? We need assistance from all quarters. To start with, we do not have a regular playing schedule of tournaments for our players. Then we do not even have a base or even a dedicated tennis court or a centre where the national team players can meet and practice. How can we aspire to do things in this sport if we do not even have the basics?” Abdul Malik queried.
The current squad of four spent more than three weeks at a training camp in France, following which they departed one week earlier to Colombo to get acclimatised to the conditions there prior their Davis Cup. “We struggled to even get this programme sorted out, and it was only due to the GAYSW that we managed. On the other hand we cannot expect miracles after just one camp. What we need is a set of players who can compete throughout the year as well go for regular camps to take their game to the next level,” the official said.
“We have a development programme at the schools level. Now, we desperately need clubs to re-join and make things happen to get our players’ base up. Until we don’t have the basics in order, our tennis will never improve,” he added.
