Botswana Tennis Association (BTA) is reaping the benefits of hosting international tournaments for its upcoming young aces.
This is demonstrated by the improvement in world rankings for the country’s young tennis players from the first ITF J30 Gaborone alone. More improvements in rankings are expected when new rankings are published early this coming week.
Speaking in an interview with this publication, BTA vice president technical Nonofo Othusitse said the return on investment is visible. During the recent ITF J30 Gaborone, Botswana had eight (8) boys and seven (7) girls in the main draw. Most of the players were under the age of 14 years.
“Two of our players emerged as World Tennis Tour Juniors doubles champions. That is Martin Seetso (boys) and Angel Chakanyuka (girls). Two other players, 13-year-old Reene Sebego and 14-year-old Rerotlhe Kgannyeng gained their first ever international rankings.”
Of greater importance, a number of our players are improving their rankings. Martin Seetso jumped 440 places to move to a world ranking of 2222 while Angel jumped 206 places to 1691 ranking.
“We are happy with the performances. We have two Champions and a number of players improving their rankings. If you look at the round robins some of our players won 2 matches out of 3.”
“We are expecting to see an improvement in terms of players performances in both singles and doubles. We are expecting more players to improve their rankings. The ROI is definitely there.”
This was all achieved while at the same time reducing expenses for parents who pay from the pocket to take their young players to compete in international tournaments.
“When we host, we offset international travel cost for our players. This can be a limiting factor for most players. So, with six tournaments hosted, we ensure that at minimum our players get to play 6 tournaments a year.”
Due to the improvement in the rankings for young local players, Botswana has maintained her position in the CAT Nations Trophy. Botswana is currently ranked 8th in Africa in the 2026 African Tennis (CAT) Nations Rankings. In the Southern African region, the country is ranked third, just behind neighbours South Africa and Zimbabwe.
The rankings are compiled from the results of players in the African Junior Championships across the U14, U16 and U18 age groups. The rankings take into account both singles and doubles performances.
Nonofo says the improvement in rankings for the players and the country points to a good investment made to help sports stars. He pointed out that the rankings also show ‘the country’s consistency in terms of participation and competing in the Continental championships.’
Away from the players, the BTA vice president technical says hosting helps the BTA to build capacity. From hosting, ‘administrators and officials are gaining necessary skills and experience.’
“When hosting, we give our officials an opportunity to organise and run these events. We are therefore building capacity in terms of administrative and technical officials.”
He elaborated that as Botswana tennis, they dream of hosting ATP and WTA events in the future. As such, having as many administratively and technically capable officials will ease the processes of hosting.
