Portraits of National Sports Association

Hong Kong Tennis Association

Tennis is a sport that values both technical skill and fitness. In this issue, we have invited Mr Chris LAI, Hong Kong Tennis Association (HKTA) CEO to introduce the HKTA’s work and direction of development.

Mr Chris LAI, the CEO of HKTA

The history of tennis in Hong Kong can be traced back to 1909 when the Hong Kong Lawn Tennis Association (HKLTA) was founded and it held the first League Tennis A Division. At that time, tennis was mostly played on grass courts. In 1970, Hong Kong started sending teams to participate in the Davis Cup and other events, and tennis became more and more popular in Hong Kong. In 1984, the HKLTA was officially renamed to HKTA and adopted several important goals: to promote tennis to the public, provide comprehensive training to local athletes and to improve Hong Kong’s overall level of tennis. The HKTA currently has more than 40 affiliated clubs and 4000 members.

The HKTA has worked hard over the past 31 years and cultivated many talented athletes who have been sent to participate in overseas competitions such as the Davis Cup and the Asian Games. Mr LAI noted that Hong Kong’s tennis players have achieved encouraging results at international competitions e.g. the Men’s Junior Davis Cup team successfully qualified for the World Finals in the last two years. “The qualifiers was played last month (April) and the men’s team in the 16 year-old age group placed fourth, which means the team will participate in the World Finals competition to be played in Spain in September. We have only achieved such outstanding results four times in history.” said Mr LAI. Furthermore, even better news is that starting from 1 April, tennis has been reclassified as an elite training programme, which means tennis trainings will be once again be provided by the Hong Kong Sports Institute and more resources will be allocated for tennis.

In addition to proactively training local elites, the HKTA also holds more than 10 international events, such as the Hong Kong Tennis Open, annually, and these events attract the participation of many famous players from around the world. For instance, Zheng Jie was one of the participants in the women’s tournament last year. There are also local competitions such as the Hong Kong National Tennis Championships and the Hong Kong National Junior Tennis Championships for tennis enthusiasts to demonstrate their skills.

In terms of community outreach, the HKTA provides training for people of all ages. For example, the mini tennis programme is arranged for children aged 5 to 6 years-old and then talented 9 to 10 year-old players with potential are selected via the Junior Novice Competition for the Hong Kong team. Other training for juniors includes: Hong Kong Tennis Stars of the Future and Young Athletes Training Scheme, etc., to give juniors the chance to experience the joys of tennis. However there is no age limit to playing tennis and there are tennis programmes designed for adults, such as the Tennis for All Training Scheme which is affordable and taught at the HKTA Tennis Centre at Kowloon Tsai park. Mr LAI, a member of the Hong Kong tennis team in the 80s, further added that although he is now a middle-aged person, he has kept up his habit of playing tennis. His physical health has benefitted from this, and the pondering of tactics has also helped to maintain his mental health and keep his mind young.

Although tennis is a very challenging sport, Mr LAI was relieved to see that there were many junior athletes aged 12 to 14 with a lot of potential and that these players would be able to achieve much if they focused on their training. However, he still believed that because the Hong Kong society puts so much emphasis on academic results, it would take a lot of patience and time to coordinate with schools and parents to get them to support athletes who wished to forsake their studies to become a professional athlete: “At the end of the day, the Chinese people have deeply entrenched concepts and are rather conservative, so typical parents want their children to focus on their studies.”

A lot of hard work by HKTA has been invested into popularizing tennis. For example, the free-of-charge “Tennis Rocks” programme that was launched in the various districts for the first time this year gives grassroots children many chances to play tennis: “We hope that they can really become the stars of tomorrow!” The LCSD Community Sport Club Programme provided funds and venues for the HKTA, thus allowing local competitions and training to be carried out smoothly. Mr LAI hoped to make it even easier for the general public to book venues, lower the barrier for participation and make tennis more and more popular to obtain more resources and cultivate more talented athletes.

If you are interested in tennis, please visit the website of the HKTA (www.tennishk.org/hk) or call 25048266 to make an enquiry with the employees.