Dubai: Tennis coaches from the Arab and Middle East regions have agreed on the launch of a ‘Tennis Carnival Series,’ possibly starting with the UAE, in near future.
The unique project is the brainchild of former UAE Tennis Federation (UAE TF) board member and general secretary Khalid Al Ali and a handful of coaches – including Ons Jabeur’s coach Essam Jellali and Elena Rybakina’s coach following a Zoom webinar earlier this week with close to 100 coaches attending from across the Arab world.
“We just thought we had to do something different for our sport after being kept away from the courts for nearly two months now. And then came this idea that we could all meet – coaches and players of various age groups in one location – and have a carnival series through a season,” Al Ali told Gulf News.
“The past few weeks have been challenging in more ways than one and as we all put our minds together, we came up with this idea of having a tennis series that would be a true testimony for everyone involved, be it the juniors or the veterans and coaches,” he added.