SCHOOL TENNIS PLAYERS PREPARE TO SQUARE UP IN WAYNE FERREIRA AND AMANDA COETZER CHALLENGE TOURNAMENTS

Wayne Ferreira and Amanda Coetzer may well have retired from active tennis but they are still keen to promote the sport in South Africa.

The Amanda Coetzer Challenge and Wayne Ferreira Challenge for schools will take place from May 11 to 13 and May 18 to 20 respectively. Both events are again sponsored by Standard Bank. Amanda Coetzer also supports a tournament for primary schools which takes place from May 25 to 27.

"I feel very disappointed when draws for grand slam tennis events are published and there are no longer any South African names in the women's singles draw," said Coetzer. "We have such a proud tradition of tennis in this country and hopefully some of the schoolgirls playing in these events will start filling the drawsheets of tournaments such as Wimbledon and the French Open."

The tournaments will be hosted at the Alma Maters of the two players -- the girls at the Oranje Meisieskool (OMS) in Bloemfontein and the boys at Parktown Boys High in Johannesburg. Joining the hosts at the Amanda Coetzer event are defending champions Bloemhof from Stellenbosch, past champions Waterkloof and Menlo Park -- both from Pretoria -- Nelspruit and Cape Town's DF Malan. Schools participating in the primary school event are OMS, Menlo Park, Clarendon Girls (East London), Cradock, Eike Stad (Stellenbosch) and Gene Louw (Cape Town).

Clapham Boys High from Pretoria will be back in action this year to defend their Wayne Ferreira Challenge as will past champions and last year's runners-up Paul Roos from Stellenbosch. The other schools participating are Stellenbosch, Nelspruit, Selbourne, St Benedicts, St Stithians, Diamantveld, Kearsney College, Pretoria Boys High, Potchefstroom Gymnasium, KES, Duineveld, Westvalia, Waterkloof and of course host school Parktown Boys.

For Ferreira it is always the team aspect the tournament that has appealed to him. "Tennis is such an individualistic game that as a player, you don't often get the opportunity to play in a team format. That is why I used to relish playing Davis Cup ties where you know that every match you win, benefits the whole team," said Ferreira.

Jonty Rhodes, former South African cricket star and now Manager for Group Sponsorships of Standard Bank said that in terms of the banks policy to support young sports men and women, it was fitting that they should be associated with these tournaments.

"We are delighted to perpetuate the names of Wayne Ferreira and Amanda Coetzer. Both of them were such wonderful ambassadors for the country great role models for the next generation of tennis players. We would encourage these players emulate the example set by Wayne and Amanda."

The formats differ for the two tournaments. At the Amanda Coetzer Challenge, the six competing teams play each other on a round robin basis with the top point-scoring school being declared the winner.

The 16 teams in the Wayne Ferreira Challenge are divided into an A and B Section. The eight teams in each section are drawn into two groups where they will play other teams in their groups on a round robin basis. The top two teams in each group will then play against one another in a knockout crossover semifinal with the two winning teams progressing to the final.