Brilliant tennis players not deterred by intense heat

MBOMBELA – The fact that Van der Merwe and Zander du Preez had to fight it out on the Van Riebeeck Park tennis courts in the middle of a scorching heatwave had no impact.

André Botha, organiser, explained how the games were played. “We worked according to a compass draw. That means no player falls out in the beginning of the tournament, but simply moves to another draw.”

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This was used to determine a ranking list. In the end the stronger players faced off on the courts, while the more relaxed players competed against each other. There were not that many female entrants this year, and they ended up playing a round robin tournament.

This meant the person who won the most games was declared the overall winner. Botha confirmed that in general there were fewer entrants than usual, and speculated if this was due to the fact that the tournament was played over two weekends, and said it can be difficult to sacrifice four whole days to compete.

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Tennis is the one game that tests a person’s hard work, determination and grit. It is also about overcoming nerves as often it is the most focused player who wins.

In the men’s singles’ finals, Joseph van der Merwe beat Zander du Preez 7-5 and 6-2. The women’s singles’ winner was Jeanetta Boshoff.

Du Preez partnered with André Botha for the men’s doubles and beat van der Merwe – teamed up with Jacob van Zyl – with 6-3, 3-6 and 6-3.

In the women’s doubles Sunelle Coetser and Bianca Jansen van Vuuren walked off the court as winners.

In the mixed doubles’ finals, Botha and Boshoff made a formidable team and beat Pieter and Michelle Boshoff 6-3 and 6-2.