"The best ways for China to develop tennis are three Cs, which
are courts, coaches and competitions," said ITF president Francesco
Ricci Bitti during a conference at Olympic Green Tennis Center in
Beijing on Thursday.
"China has many good tennis stadiums like the Olympic Green
Tennis Center, which will hold Olympic Games next year. And after
the Olympics, this venue should be used to facilitate young players
and ordinary people," said Bitti.
"Players can not develop well without the help of good coaches.
ITF has given China great assistance to train coaches, referees as
well as officials since 2000."
Talking about competitions, Bitti said, "China has already
organized several high-level tennis tournaments, such as China Open
and Shanghai Masters Cup. But only focusing on top competitions is
not enough. In fact, local players need tournaments at all levels,
instead of merely top competitions, to develop themselves."
"Young as Chinese Tennis Association (CTA) is, it has possessed
many talented players, especially women players."
Bitti believed China had great potential in tennis and promised
that ITF would provide all sorts of support to help CTA.
(Xinhua News Agency October 12, 2007)