Players need more tourneys to be competitive - Tennis Coach

Henry Quansah, national coach of the Ghana Tennis Federation (GTF), has said that more competitions are needed for athletes to gain exposure and experience to compete and win laurels at the international level.

Ghana reached the quarter-final stage of the International Tennis Federation (ITF), U-18 World Junior Tennis circuit held in Accra and coach Quansah was hopeful that Ghanaian athletes would improve in the ITF World Tennis tour juniors ongoing at the tennis court of the Accra Sports Stadium.

Speaking to the GNA Sports, he said he was impressed with Ghana’s performance though Ghana could not progress to the semi-final, adding that, “I believe we can reach the ITF World tennis tour two semis and ultimately win the trophy.”

He stressed that, Ghana has a bright future in tennis and that, if there were more competitions for the athletes to compete with foreign players, it would give them (athletes) more experience and exposure.

“Our players don’t have the needed exposure. Our players need help so they improve on their performance. Players need sponsors from family or corporate entities to go far in tennis.”

On Ghana’s participation at the Africa Games in Morocco this year, the coach said, he has spotted about four players to represent Ghana and believes the ITF World Tennis tour juniors would help the team.

Coach Quansah thanked the President of the Tennis Foundation Ghana (TFG), Roger Crawford for organising the event which has about 64 players from Asia, Europe and Africa participating.

The ITF World Tennis Tour juniors is organised by the Tennis Foundation Ghana under the auspices of the GTF with support from McDan, Hollard, Ann Mineral Water, Life Time Tennis, DHL and Jumia Travel.

The week-long competition is expected to end on Saturday, April, 13.