ISLAMABAD - Pakistan Tennis Federation (PTF) president Salim Saifullah Khan formally inaugurated the National Tennis Academy (NTA) here at the Senator Dilawar Abbas PTF Tennis Complex the other day.

Iftikhar Rashid, Sanaullah Aman and other PTF officials were also present on the occasion, while head pro’s and the first batch of high-performance players, mostly juniors, attending the month-long camp.

Sharing his views, Salim said: “It was my dream to open a national tennis academy in Islamabad and now it has become a reality. After many years of waiting, we have fulfilled a longstanding need of a world class training facility to help develop players of variant categories. The painful absence of Davis Cup home ties for a dozen years and other international events obviously affected the growth of tennis amongst the youth as interest in the great sport was on a slide. The academy will be developed into state-of-the-art facility with the aim of producing top quality players in the future.”

The PTF chief encouraged the public to come forward and support the athletes in the academy for the betterment of tennis. “The academy will attract young players from across the country, who wished to develop their game and want to be international players. Despite some training academies running in the country by former Davis Cup players, lack of required resources was a setback that hindered developing our potential players.

“The provision of high-performance training at the NTA, which will be run under the highly experienced and skilled duo of former Davis Cuppers Hameed-ul-Haq and Mushaf Zia, who earned laurels for Pakistan and top-notch trainers commanding huge respect in the field, would greatly help our developing players many of whom could not afford to go to other countries for such camps.

“The first batch of enrolled players comprises top five juniors, in the 15 to 18 years age group, while a senior player undergoing training for the event in Ashgabat in September. The current programme involves a strict fitness regime and tennis practice, along with developing match strategies,” he added.

The NTA will offer training at various levels, from beginners to intermediate to advanced levels, with a group of other coaches assisting the head pro’s in running different programmes. “To join in the celebrations of Pakistan Independence Day, the head pro’s have divided the players into two teams and matches will be held between the teams today (Saturday) from 9am to early afternoon at PTF Complex.”