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Ellina Mhlanga Sports Reporter
THE 2018 Tennis Zimbabwe season roars into life this morning with the New Winners tournament at Old Hararians and Harare Sports Club. The tournament will see some of the country’s best talent converging at the two venues for three-days with at least 150 junior players participating in the Under-10, Under-12, Under-14 and Under-18 age-group, which has been combined with the Under-16 to make it more competitive.

Earlier on the event had been slated for Harare Sports Club but tournament director Enock Tafirenyika yesterday said they have had to spread the matches to Old Hararians Sports Club as well Harare Sports Club because of the numbers.

“We are raring to go, right now we have got 150 players, so we are ready to go. We have got players coming from all over.

“We are now using Harare Sports Club and Old Hararians because of the numbers,” said Tafirenyika.

There have been challenges of low participation particularly in the Under-18 girls section in the recent past years and that has seen the organisers combining the Under-16s and Under-18s.

“Because of that, the Under-18 and Under-16s have been combined. And the numbers are good now, we have about 20 players which is a big improvement because previously we would have maybe five or six.

“For the boys we have combined them also, we wanted to make the format the same for both boys and girls. So because of that surely there is going to be more competition which means we are anticipating a good tournament from that age-group.

“And also because of the numbers it’s going to be interesting for the players, they are going to enjoy because they won’t be playing the same people over and over, they will be playing different people,” Tafirenyika said.

The likes of Anesu Kwirirai, Panashe Gara, Beverly Matsiwe, Rufaro Magarira and Nandi Munyulwa are some of the top junior players likely to feature in this tournament. The annual event running until Friday will also serve as part of preparations for the team that is set to represent the country at the zonals championships in Gaborone, Botswana from January 8 to 16. Zimbabwe is sending 12 players for the event which targets Under-14s and Under-16s.