Mbombela boasts a tennis boffin

The 31-year-old divides his time between teaching English to grade six and seven learners at St Peter’s School and coaching tennis to people of all ages at the same school as well as at Curro Nelspruit and Nelspruit Tennis Club.

Two u/12 players, Jovan Lubbe and Arili Boshoff, will head to the United States in July, after receiving a scholarship opportunity from Abrie du Plooy with Future Tennis.

Eckhardt says both youngsters have an incredible work ethic. Coaching and tennis certainly runs in his family. Born in Pretoria where his mother, Leoné, was a tennis coach for 25 years, Eckhardt started his own tennis career at the age of four.

Because my mother was a coach, I would go to the tennis club every afternoon after school, watch my mother coaching, and then try and copy the shots myself by hitting against the wall,” he says.

At 11 years old, the Van der Linde family moved to Somerset West, and Eckhardt continued with junior tennis, achieving his highest ranking of number nine in the country. In high school, his Paul Roos Gymnasium first team won the Kearsney College and Wayne Ferreira tennis festivals to become the premier side in the country.

He tried his hand at professional tennis and toured the United States for three months playing Futures tournaments.

It was extremely challenging, and I decided to apply for scholarships at American universities. During my college years, I was fortunate and privileged enough to coach with fellow southern Africans, Brian de Villiers, Noel Wadawu and Grant Stafford, where I learned so much about coaching top-level players,” he explains.

It was in the States that he also met his Australian wife, Susan, an excellent tennis player herself. In 2008 the couple moved to Australia, where Eckhardt continued coaching and playing premier-league tennis in Adelaide.

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The pair also owned and managed a provincial tennis centre in Adelaide for almost two years. It is evident that Mbombela is lucky to have him and his wealth of experience. He says tennis is a great sport for many reasons.

Firstly, it teaches a person extremely valuable life skills such as self-discipline, independence that also needs to be combined with teamwork, and the ability to pick yourself up when you have failed. Secondly, it is a sport you can enjoy for your entire life. I have coached adults as old as 82!”

“Lastly, it opens many doors for you even if you don’t go professional. Tennis has given me the opportunity to travel the world and support myself into adulthood.”

More importantly, Eckhardt believes tennis teaches youngsters crucial life lessons.

“The individuality of tennis is both a blessing and a curse, I feel. It teaches children that when they do well, it is because they have put in the work and concentrated. However, when they are unsuccessful, it is also because they have underperformed or not worked hard enough.

There is no teammate or referee to blame. Playing tennis forces children to take control of their actions and emotions, both on and off the court.”

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