These are crucial times for tennis in South Africa. When Richard Glover took over as CEO two years ago, the governing body was in a perilous financial state. Therefore his first job was to develop the organisation’s partnership portfolio. His second was to start schemes to develop the grass-roots of the game. Meanwhile, at the other end of the spectrum and unrelated to Glover’s tenure, South African men’s No 1 Kevin Anderson reached the final of the US Open and Wimbledon.
It has all created the correct conditions for a resurgence.
But can Tennis South Africa close out the game when they are only a challenger sport in the country? What groups in this deeply sectionalised population are they targeting? Will the blazers or the country’s difficult history play a part? Where does social media fit in? How does a CEO balance short-term and long-term aims? And, most importantly, why are they talking about eating elephants?
