NOEL IYOMBWA writes
A ZAMBIAN tennis player based in Barcelona, Spain says lack of tennis facilities in Zambia is hampering the development of the sport.
Patrick Mufubila, a professional tennis player in the ATP in Spain said the sport has not been done well because the country has no tennis facilities and has no body that can run the affairs of the sport and players.
He said he found it difficult to train when back home because there few good tennis players to train with.
Mufubila appealed to government and the corporate world in Zambia to sponsor the sport and build facilities that would help develop the sport.
He said unlike tennis players in other African counties such tennis such as Nigeria, Morocco, and Zambia had no good foundation for young players while tennis governing bodies were not effective to develop the sport.
He said his career started 16 years ago but in the last five years he had been trying to break into the top rings in the past five years he had been living in Barcelona and competing with top tennis player.
Mufubila said he started his tennis playing at Lusaka Club and later moved to South Africa where he began his professional playing because that country has better facilities to support developing players.
He said last year he had a rare opportunity to play in Russia at Saint Petersburg Open and Moscow for another cup where he faced the World Number 33 Nicholas Hilmy Kyrgios and lost the game.