South Africa, 2 May 2022 - British former tennis player and tennis coach Miles Maclagan is coming to South Africa to host a Tennis Coaching Masterclass for South African Tennis Coaches, and a Kids Coaching Clinic for children aged between 14 and 16, as part of the 2022 Africa Cares Tennis Challenge local tennis development initiative. Miles Maclagan, a former tennis player, has also coached some big names in international tennis including Andy Murray, British number one Laura Robson, Borna Coric, Marcos Baghdatis and Philipp Kohlschreiber. He has also coached Wayne Black and Kevin Ullyett, guiding the pair to two Grand Slam doubles titles and three ATP Masters 1000 crowns, as well as Kevin Ullyett and Paul Hanley, guiding the pair to two ATP Masters 1000 titles and five other tour-level crowns.

The Tennis Coaches Masterclass and Kids Coaching Clinic are set to take place at the University of Pretoria (Tuks), in the city of Tshwane from the 13th to the 16th of May 2022.

Miles Maclagan coaching series will focus on helping young tennis players sharpen their talents and improve on their tennis skills, and help South African coaches on how they can successfully navigate their coaching careers and cultivate their tennis coaching skills to an international level, helping to develop more local tennis stars.

Commenting on the exciting occasion, Miles Maclagan said “It’s amazing to see great initiatives such as the Africa Cares Tennis Challenge developing local tennis talent in South Africa. I believe sports plays an important role in bringing communities together. I look forward to meeting and interacting with the coaches and kids in South Africa and helping to sharpen their talents.” The Gauteng North Tennis Development (GNTD) has shown its support for the initiative by providing the coaches and kids who will benefit from the coaching clinics led by Miles Maclagan and help develop tennis.

The Secretary General of GNTD Miss Antoinetta Shibisi stated “It’s a dream come true for tennis children and coaches in the Tshwane Region to be exposed to legendary status in being coached by ex-Andy Murray and grand slam winning coach Miles McLachlan. This bodes well for the development of tennis and we hope that this will rub off positively and, in the future, we will see the next Venuses, Simonas or even Arthur Ashes coming out of them.”

The tennis coaching series is part of the activations which will be running throughout the year for the 2022 Africa Cares Tennis Challenge, an international tennis tournament which will be taking place on the 3rd and 4th of December 2022 at Loftus Versfeld Stadium. Africa Cares aims to use sport as vehicle to inspire change, focusing mainly on promoting local tennis, developing local talent, and using their platforms to play their part in the fight against gender based violence, the other pandemic the world is currently facing.

“The Africa Cares Tennis event not only aims to deliver an exciting tennis tournament with international and local tennis stars sharing the stage. We also aim to develop local talent to help them build successful careers in tennis, be it as players or coaches. We want South African talent to be given more opportunities to go further,” – Tendai Rukwava, CEO of TR Brand Communications & Spokesperson for Africa Cares Tennis Challenge.



[Submitted by Kevin Rademeyer]