Dubai: For a place that plays host to some of the top international competitions, grassroots development should have gone hand in hand. Sadly, such a scenario is yet to play out.

For one, there can be no doubt on the credentials of the annual Dubai Tennis Championships.

Owned, operated and organised by Dubai Duty Free (DDF), these two male and female tournaments have a long list of awards and recognition over the decades.

Players love the tournaments, fans and spectators throng to the DDF Tennis Stadium in Al Garhoud putting Dubai firmly on the international tennis map for hosting possibly two of the biggest and best tennis tournaments on the WTA and ATP Tours.

However, sadly the fruits of labour are not being seen at the lower end, with much still needing to be done at the grassroots level.

For one, Omar Behroozian, now 35, has come to be the mainstay of the national squad at successive Davis Cup encounters. The UAE has best managed entries into Group III, only to slide down back into Group IV in their Asia-Oceania Davis Cup encouters over the years.

But that was possibly the reason David Haggerty, who took over as the new president of the International Tennis Federation (ITF) from Italian Francesco Ricci Bitti in September 2015, decided to visit Dubai during last week’s ATP World Tour event and ascertain how a system can be put in place to inspire a whole new generation to ride this inspiration of two of the world’s best tournaments.

“Maybe we are 25 years late, but we need to do what needs to be done,” Haggerty told Gulf News on the sidelines of the ITF seminar held at the Roda Al Bustan Hotel last week.

“There is no doubt that tennis has grown in awareness dramatically here, and now, we need to match the growth of participation,” he added.

Long-term strategy

The world tennis governing body’s ‘ITF 2024’ was launched at its Annual General Meeting (AGM) in Zagreb last year.

The new plan aims to create a long-term strategy for sustainable growth, outlining the ITF’s mission to develop, grow and promote tennis around the world through good governance, integrity and trust, inclusiveness, innovation, ambition and collaboration.

Haggerty entered the scene with the hope of revamping the long-running team competitions Davis Cup and Fed Cup, while increasing revenue and the game’s developmental footprint.

It is at this level that the DDF’s tennis tournaments fit in so willing and well on the broader spectrum of the ITF plan on the back of two big tournaments with adequate opportunities for people of all ages to fire their imagination while using these events as inspiration.

But there are challenges and solutions at the same time.

“What happens is that if there are not enough opportunities, the players at a young age tend to lose interest and they do not develop in the sport. We are fortunate here in Dubai to have two of the best tournaments on the WTA and ATP. This can inspire people, inspires juniors. And now we need to take advantage of that inspiration and have more players playing. So what we need is a wide foundation because the more players we have the better the pyramid will be,” Haggerty suggested.

Haggerty admitted that Asia, in general, has great tennis possibilities because this is really an area where the ITF can have the most participation at all levels, be it in the juniors or the seniors.

“West Asia too has great opportunities because there is a very big interest in watching tennis and in getting into sport.

“We don’t have that many top players coming through in West Asia yet, so that’s one of the great opportunitities this region gives,” he pointed.

“So it is imperative for the ITF to work with the nations and with the government, and put together plans to ensure there are more players that come through, to ensure there are more people playing, and the ones who play have the opportunity to be playing at the international stage, in the juniors as well as on the tours,” he added.

“We do spend considerable funds in Asia. But now is the time to spend more and spend smarter. That’s what the goal is — to have more development money over the years,” Haggerty suggested.