Acting PhilTA President Randy Villanueva promotes reform in Philippine tennis
Tennis is one of my favorite spectator’s
sports. It’s just heartbreaking that I know more about international tennis
than tennis in our country.
The sad state of Philippine tennis is reflected
in the fact that we haven’t been producing world-class tennis playerfor years
now and don’t blame me if I say that there’s only two Filipino tennis players I
know of - Ms. Dyan Castillejo and Cesar Mamiit. Clearly, there’s a need for
reform in tennis in our country.
And this is what PHILTA's acting president
Mr. Randy Villanueva had in mind as he organized the Philippine Tennis Summit
and gathered local stakeholders of tennis to discuss the present state of the
tennis industry and identified action plans towards promoting reform in
Philippine tennis.
During the Philippine Tennis Summit last
September 6 held at the Makati Sports Club, stakeholders, including tennis
coaches, players, parents, sponsors, regional representatives and PhilTA
officials, among others, along with members of the media, gathered and
discussed issues on Philippine tennis. Villanueva, whose job as PHILTA's acting presiden fell on his lap, spearheaded the
gathering and presented the current state of Philippine tennis. He cited the
need to improve the country’s standing in international competitions, increase
the number of tennis players in the country, and attract them to become members
of the national tennis association that represents the International Tennis
Federation in the Philippines, among others.
Villanueva laid down the plans for
Philippine tennis, identifying a strategy that starts with changes within
the existing organization, followed by milestones that will create funding
and resources, enable extensive training programs, and make way for a
consistent supply of high-caliber Filipino tennis players before reaching the
ultimate goal of becoming a world-class tennis association. He elaborated that
for him to consider the vision of becoming a world-class tennis association,
the country should have at least two Olympians, at least two players in the top
100 of the ATP & WTA rankings, four junior players in the Top 100 of the
ITF boys’ and girls’ categories, qualify for the Fed Cup World Group, and
qualify for the Davis Cup World, all by 2024.
He also stressed that to be able to
achieve all of these, there’s a need to change the current set-up of the
current national tennis association to make way for positive changes
specifically in making Philippine tennis inclusive to many. This will pave
the way for more active memberships from tennis players, increase in pool
of talents, and make the association more sustainable in terms of funding.
“There’s really a need to amend the
organization if we are to become a world-class association. The
association right now is being run by just 12 people who do not represent
any Philippine tennis stakeholders, region or clubs. I think it’s very
important that we make it more inclusive to everyone and encourage more
participation from the whole Philippine tennis community,” said Villanueva.
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| Photo Credit:Adae Ang |
One of those elated to hear
Villanueva’s vision for Philippine tennis is sports patron and PhilTA chairman
of the board, Jean Henri Lhuillier.
“It’s refreshing to have this
Philippine Tennis Summit and hear the great plans of Villanueva to move forward
Philippine tennis. As always, I’ll be here to support in whatever capacity
I can to bring to fruition PhilTA’s plans,” said Lhuillier.
During the summit, Villanueva also advised that
he initiated the event in an effort to uplift Philippine tennis and clarifies
that he does not have any plans to run for the presidency in the organization’s
next election and is just happy to be able to lay down the work for whoever
will succeed him.
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