Mission accomplished
Tennis boss pleased with ITF tourney, makes plans for more in 2025
Published:Friday | May 31, 2024 | 12:07 AMOrane Buchanan/Staff Reporter
PRESIDENT OF the Jamaica Tennis Association, John Azar, is hailing the recently concluded International Tennis Federation (ITF) World Tennis Tour M15000 tournament a ‘success’.
With matches hosted at Tennis Jamaica and Liguanea Club, athletes from more than 30 countries, all braving the hot conditions, engaged in pulsating matches on three days over three weeks.
“I think the three events were fantastic and all of our objectives were achieved. We hosted world-class athletes here in Kingston and gave exposure to our local players, while we were also able to train local officials with the International Tennis Federation staff that was here. This was a test for us and from that perspective, I would say it was a success,” said Azar.
Azar was pleased with the event’s organisation, saying that despite playing across two venues there were no reports of transportation issues and, as importantly, no complaints about the playing surfaces.
“The ITF had assessed the surfaces prior to granting us the approval to host the event, so there were no surprises there. I think it ran seamlessly as we had shuttles between the two venues and it was convenient for the players.”
Of the Jamaican representatives, John Chin reached the furthest in the tournament, making it to the quarterfinals before he was ousted by India’s Aryan Shah, losing 6-3, 4-6, 1-6.
According to Azar this showed the level of competition that the Jamaican players were up against throughout the tournament.
“I wouldn’t’ say disappointed as tennis is a sport where there’s a lot of factors that come into play, which includes the draw of the individual players. The reality of it is that we were happy to give our local players exposure and over the three events we had about nine players participating. I think from that perspective we, again, achieved our goal. However, it is a sport where someone has to come out on top and the other players don’t. We would have rathered our local players do better than they did, but that also speaks to the level of competition that they were up against.”
Plans are already in motion to host more tournaments of this magnitude on local soil.
According to Azar, Jamaica should play host to about eight major tournaments in 2025.
“Our plans with the ITF is certainly to host many more events like this starting next year and we are going to put in an application for about eight events. The feedback from the ITF office in London is that they’re happy with the organisation of the event.”