Rising stars back in action
By making tennis more inclusive in South Africa, organisers also hope to promote tennis at grassroots level and utilise the sport as a powerful tool to empower the nation's youth.
Following a successful inaugural edition of the BNP Paribas RCS Rising Star Tennis Competition last year, the nationwide school programme will return bigger and better in the coming months.
The news comes as BNP Paribas, and their wholly owned consumer finance subsidiary RCS, announced their continued commitment to the partnership with Tennis South Africa (TSA) and a second edition of the programme to grow the game across the country.
The tennis initiative, which involved close to 400 schools in 2019, is seeking to build on the positive momentum of its first year by expanding the programme even further.
This year, the BNP Paribas RCS Rising Star Tennis Competition will see the inclusion of high school players and a wheelchair category, alongside the existing primary schools’ competition, increasing opportunities for a new generation of players.
A sports project with a purpose, BNP Paribas RCS Rising Star Tennis aims to create opportunities for school boys and girls from all communities and to increase youth participation in tennis. By making tennis more inclusive in South Africa, organisers also hope to promote tennis at grassroots level and utilise the sport as a powerful tool to empower the nation’s youth.
The successful 2019 BNP Paribas RCS Rising Star Tennis Competition, which was played over seven months, reached over 2 000 children across all provinces. At the series finals, held at the Arthur Ashe Tennis Centre in Soweto in February, Grey College and Oranje Meisieskool, both from the Free State, emerged victorious in the boys’ and girls’ divisions.
Kevin Anderson, the former world number five, will continue to play a key role as the main ambassador and face of the national schools’ events.
“It was a great honour to witness the discovery of some amazing tennis talent in year one of the BNP Paribas RCS Rising Star Tennis. I am even more excited to help discover more talent in year two, as the competition returns, bigger and better than ever.
“It is extremely encouraging to see BNP Paribas and RCS coming on board for a second year to give opportunities and kickstart the development of many more future South African tennis stars.
“With BNP Paribas, RCS and Tennis South Africa, I would like to see more children in South Africa take up tennis, fall in love with the sport and reach greater heights,” said Anderson.
Eager to motivate young players, Anderson will be joined by three more ambassadors: wheelchair tennis ace Kgothatso Montjane, a former US open doubles finalist, and talented junior stars Kholo Montsi and Kaitlyn Ramduth.
Richard Glover, CEO of Tennis South Africa, said: “Tennis, as a non-contact sport, is one of the safest sports to play in the Covid-19 environment, and with the right protocols in place we are confident these events can be held across the country, in an extremely low-risk way.”
