Sri Lanka Tennis targets Wimbledon for 2025, as centenary approaches

L-R: SLTA Vice President P. G. Gamage, Vice President Sohan Patrick, President Iqbal Bin Issack, Vice President Suresh Subramaniam, General Secretary Pradeep Gunasekara and Vice President Ravindranath Perera – Pic by Indrarartne Balasuriya

By Madushka Balasuriya

As it approaches its 100th anniversary, the Sri Lanka Tennis Association (SLTA) has outlined an ambitious plan to take the next generation of Sri Lankan tennis players to the pinnacle of the sport to compete in international tournaments such as Wimbledon within the next 10 years.

The SLTA, which is the second-oldest tennis association in Asia, will be celebrating its landmark anniversary with the hosting of the Asian Tennis Federation’s (ATF) Annual General Meeting on 28 November. The AGM marks the first time the ATF has held the event in Sri Lanka and is anticipated to signal a reinvigorated engagement between the Sri Lankan tennis community and its Asian neighbours.

“In recent years the Sri Lanka public has been gaining more exposure to international tennis and we can see that a lot more youth players are being drawn to the sport. Sri Lanka has a vibrant sporting culture in general and I believe that given the right opportunities and support, our youth players will be able to go toe-to-toe against the best international players,” said SLTA President Iqbal Bin Issack at a press conference yesterday announcing its centenary celebrations. 

“We are calling on our sponsors to join hands with us and help us develop the sport outstation and in Colombo. We have earmarked 2022 as the year we hope to see some of our players reach the top and try to see if we could get them to Wimbledon.”

To give Sri Lanka’s next crop of youngsters the best possible chance, SLTA Vice President Sohan Patrick revealed that steps are being taken to revamp the coaching structure in the country. He explained that while there are several coaches in the country with internationally recognised qualifications more needs to be done to help them hone their skills.

“Being able to take players and teach them to win requires coaches to be very much updated with what’s going on in the coaching field globally. They need to be travelling and they need to be travelling with players. So that’s something we’re definitely going to look at going forward.”

Patrick added that along with this a singular focus will be placed on the under-10 age group, so as to have them physically and mentally primed to compete at the highest level.

“The players who we hope will go on to represent Sri Lanka at Wimbledon in 2022, 2025 are currently around eight years old. So what we are doing now is to change the coaching structure in Sri Lanka where the SLTA will be partnering with all the coaching academies in the country, focusing on the under-10 academies because that will be the age group that will be turning 17-18 by that time. 

“We are also aggressively looking out for a good foreign coach who has taken players to that stage before; we are trying to get one down by January. It is not their physical ability that is lacking but the harnessing of it.”

A foreign coach is also something SLTA Vice President Suresh Subramaniam is a strong advocate of as he believes it will instill a winning mentality in players, something he says has been lacking in the past.

“See there’s a big difference between playing tennis and winning tennis,” observed the former SLTA President. “At the moment we have coaches who teach them how to play tennis, we still don’t have someone who can teach you how to win. That’s a different ball game altogether. This is why we’re looking for foreign coaches who have played at the world class level.”