Africa-Press – Namibia. NAMIBIA’S young tennis star Connor van Schalkwyk is fast making a name for himself amongst the world’s top junior players.
Last week he competed at the African Junior Championships in Sousse, Tunisia where he excelled to reach the final, despite a stomach injury which hampered his serving.
En route to the final he won four matches without losing a set, but his winning run came to a halt when he lost 6-4, 6-1 to South Africa’s Devin Badenhorst in the final.
“I injured my left abdomen earlier in the tournament which made it very difficult to serve, and in the end I even had to serve underhand, so I was actually quite surprised that I even reached the final,” he said yesterday.
That defeat saw his junior world ranking dropping to 53rd from a high of 36th in January, while it was his first defeat against Badenhorst, whom he had beaten twice in September last year.
Van Schalkwyk, who is only 17 years old, has now consolidated his position as Africa’s top ranked junior player. Badenhorst is the second highest African ranked player at 101 in the world, and Hady El Kordi of Egypt is the third highest at 159.
“I was ranked number one in Africa for the first time towards the end of last year and I am very happy about that because it has helped my career a lot. Through that I’ve been invited to join an ITF team that will compete at major junior tournaments later this year,” he said.
Van Schalkwyk had already served notice of his potential in November last year when he won the African Junior Championships just before his 17th birthday, when he beat Yassine Dlimi of Morocco 6-4, 6-3 in the final, while he was later invited to join a Confederation of African Tennis u17 team that competed in several ITF junior tournaments in South Africa.
In January this year he was invited to compete at his first junior Grand Slam tournament, the Australian Junior Open, and although he lost in the first round, he was by then already ranked 36th in the world.
“It was a bit overwhelming for me, I was all alone without a coach, and I felt a bit lost, but it was amazing to be amongst the top players in the world and the experience will help me in future,” Van Schalkwyk said.
Since then he has continued competing at various ITF junior tournaments. In February he competed at a Grade 2 junior tournament in Siauliai, Lithuania where he reached the quarterfinals before losing 6-2, 6-2 to Gilles Bailly of Belgium, while he competed at two junior tournaments in Morocco in March.
He first competed at a Grade 1 tournament in Casablanca where he reached the second round before losing 7-6, 7-6 to Henrique Rocha, but a week later he competed at a Grade 3 tournament in Rabat, where he won his first title of the year after beating Diogo Morais of Portugal 6-3, 6-3 in the final.
Van Schalkwyk’s recent form has once again led to his inclusion in an ITF junior team that will compete in a Grand Slam Player Development Programme from May to July.
During this time he will compete at various training camps and tournaments in Italy, as well as the prestigious junior Grand Slam tournaments at Roland Garros and Wimbledon.
Van Schalkwyk said he was excited about the programme and eager to make an impact.
“I will have four weeks to prepare in Italy so I hope to do well at the junior Grand Slams. My aim is to be ranked amongst the top 20 juniors in the world by the end of the year,” he said, adding:
“I’m very proud to represent Namibia abroad and also want to thank the Janine and Suzelle Davin Sport Trust for sponsoring me.”
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