FENIT NIRAPPEL
After numerous delays because of rain, the third Soweto Open came to an end yesterday, with its highest turnout yet and its first South African victor.
Now Joburg must decide if it wants to keep hosting the tennis tournament.
Sanctioned by the International Tennis Federation, the Soweto Open included men’s and women’s doubles and singles events. Getting the tournament off the ground involved the combined effort of the South African Tennis Association (Sata) and the City of Joburg to encourage tennis in Soweto and the city. The council paid R16 million to host the tournament for three years.
Solomon Tsolo, 34, attended the tournament almost every day last year. He said it was exciting to see with his own eyes tournaments that normally appeared on television.
“It’s nice to have this tournament (here). We don’t always have professional players in our township,” Tsolo said.
Because this year’s tournament was the last of the three paid for by the council, Sata started negotiating with the City of Joburg to continue hosting the tournament for another three-year period.
Council spokeswoman Gugu Makhaya said: “No decision has been taken in terms of organising this tournament on an annual basis.”
After the elections, the new council would choose whether to extend the contract.
Matches ended early on Friday because of heavy rain and were cancelled totally on Saturday, extending the tournament until yesterday.
Despite this, tournament director Gavin Crookes es-timates more than 7 000 spectators turned out this year, eclipsing the 2 000 who attended last year and the 200 who rocked up at matches in its first year.
Free admission drove the turnout, which Crookes de-scribed as better than most international tournaments of a similar calibre.
Some residents say the tournament would have been more successful if there had been better advertising.
“The only people who benefit are the people from around (the Arthur Ashe Tennis Centre). Some kids in Soweto don’t even have courts,” said Lebogang Ntuane, 25, who attended her second Soweto Open. “They should spread the word and get more people to come.”
Crookes said the rising number of children asking Arthur Ashe Tennis Centre officials how they could learn to play tennis reflected the Soweto Open’s success.
“(The tournament) shows them what they can aspire to, (to be) one of the top players in the world,” he said.
This year’s event had the first South African victor. Stellenbosch native Isak van der Merwe, last year’s runner-up, defeated Rik de Voest, another South African, to become the men’s singles champion.