South African coach Frans Cronje has little doubt that his team will be a force at the Nike Junior Tour International Masters tennis tournament to be played in Nice, France, from October 31 to November 5.
Cronje, who is head coach at the High Performance Tennis Centre at the University of Pretoria, will take charge of Grant Ive, Wesley Montgomery, Bianca Swanepoel and Kaylea Sher for the event that pits top junior players from 21 countries.
”You can never write us off,” said Cronje.
”We have a great team and we are always a force to be reckoned with at this level of tennis. The tournament is also played on hard court this year which is a definite plus for our players.”
All four players have already had overseas experience. Ive, who comes from East London, won three out of five matches at the World Cup and also took the United States number two player to three sets.
”Grant, in his way, responds well to tactical manoeuvres and executes them well under pressure,” said Cronje.
”He has shown a lot of class when it’s mattered.
”Bianca has played well in Germany and she has plenty of ability.”
Both Sher and Montgomery have been unstoppable at local tournaments in their age group. ”Wesley and Kaylea travelled together in Italy and Belgium in July. Kaylea won her tournaments and Wesley reached the final in his. Wesley is a smart player and a real competitor and I am expecting some big results from the two under-12 players.”
Montgomery has solid tennis genes, being the son of Linkie Snyman and Pierre Montgomery.
”The key, as always, is to take it match by match, point by point and to make sure that our players compete well on the day,” said Cronje. – Sapa