Tennis South Africa (TSA) is finalising its preparations for the Davis Cup by BNP Paribas tie against Israel, taking place in Pretoria, from the 2nd – 3rd February.
The event has evoked a variety of views, from different groups within our society. For this reason, we would like to clarify our position.
TSA, along with 200 other countries globally, is an affiliate of the International Tennis Federation (ITF) and participates in the Davis Cup – the World Cup of Tennis – on an annual basis. One of the ITF’s key objectives for this competition is to grow the sport of tennis, and to do so without discrimination on the grounds of colour, race, nationality, ethnic or national origin, age, sex or religion.
The ITF believes that sport should be used as a unifying element between athletes and nations. The ITF’s flagship competitions, Davis Cup by BNP Paribas and Fed Cup by BNP Paribas, were founded on the idea of fostering greater understanding among nations through tennis, a principle that is as valid today as it was over 100 years ago.
TSA fully supports the guiding principles of both the ITF and the Davis Cup.
We look forward to a weekend of high quality tennis and wish our team the best of luck as they begin their campaign to try and win promotion to the Davis Cup World Group.
More about the Davis Cup:
The Davis Cup is the World Cup of Tennis. It is the premier international team event in men's tennis. It is run by the International Tennis Federation (ITF) and is contested annually between teams from competing countries in a knock-out format. South African currently plays in Europe/Africa Zone Group One, the group below the prestigious World Group, after promotion from Europe/Africa Zone Group Two in 2017.