Reviving the tennis legend of the Black family

By Grace Chirumanzu

Six year old Joseph and Brooke Black (4) have just the right coach, the support and future plans any tennis star needs to relive the legacy of the Black brothers Zimbabwean fans reminisce of today.

The son and daughter of tennis legend, Wayne Black, have the guidance of their parents to take them through every step of the way to greatness. Wayne Black, who is married to his sister Cara’s former doubles partner, Kazakhstan-born Irina Selyutina, believes it is the duty of parents to raise their kids into professional players.

“We are getting them to play tennis now. My dream for them is to make them as tennis professionals. It is a good lucrative life if one can do well,” said Wayne Black.

“We try to spend an hour a day with them. Most of our afternoons are evolving around tennis; watching tennis is not fun so we will be playing. We have a generation of my dad’s knowledge now and a generation of my knowledge to pass to our kids. With that accumulation of knowledge hopefully we can make them better than we were,” Wayne Black said.

Young Joseph’s love for the sport he was introduced to by his parents is unmistakable. The Hellenic Schoolboy kept calling for his father to serve a harder ball and not to go easy on him during a session at his grandmother’s spacious home in Mandara. “He loves playing with the big boys at his school,” said Wayne.

Joseph said he wanted to beat Samuel, his young tennis idol at school. Brooke, who is still in nursery school, returned her father’s service with back-hand strikes of a young professional.

“How high they can go we don’t know because the problem with this country is that we don’t have enough kids playing at the moment so they may not get much competition. So, it is going to be expensive for us to keep sending them outside (the country) to play. It is another expense added to tennis.

“But we are going to do our best and make sure that they hit 10 000 balls before they are 18,” said the former doubles partner to Kevin Ullyett. Wayne grew up in a tennis family with his late father Don and mother Velia playing a vital role in his development together with older brother Byron and sister Cara.

With countryman Ullyett, Wayne won two men’s doubles titles, the US Open in 2001 and Australian Open in 2005. They finished in the top five for five seasons. Wayne also won two Grand Slam mixed doubles with sister Cara. Their dance in the elite World Group as Team Zimbabwe saw the local fans enjoy some good tennis featuring world-class players such as Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi.

His wife, Irina, briefly played on the WTA tour after partnering Cara to the Wimbledon Junior doubles title in 1997. “My dad did all the work with us. He put in three hours of work with us; if you times that with days and years and accumulate those hours, it will be ridiculous the hours he spent playing with us.

“That’s just how much time it takes to become a tennis player, these days it is an elite game that is specialised. Instead of coaching other kids to make money he put all that time into us. Unless as parents or unless there is a full-time coaching system where kids can play all the time and have the facilities, it is very difficult to produce tennis players.

“Parents are not as tough on their kids anymore, they are letting their kids do what they want and figure it out for themselves when they are older but that’s too late because kids need to hit 10 000 balls before they are 18 (years old). So if one has not done the ground work or the basics by the time you are a teenager one will never make it as a tennis player.

“Parents have to do it. The tennis association can set up an Academy but it takes a lot of money and they will have to choose on five or 10 kids and focus on them. But who is to say they are the right kids to choose and parents will come asking why their kids are not being picked.”

Black, who admits “feeling nostalgia when watching Wimbledon”, admits there is young talent in Zimbabwe that needs some serious nurturing. “We have some nice juniors and some nice young professionals coming up and hopefully they can find that next level.

“There are a lot of good players but it is the mental jump to go to the next level, so if they can handle it mentally and if they want it bad enough they will definitely make it. I hope to groom my two little ones because obviously I will spend more time with them than any other kids.

“I am coaching six kids at the moment and also at a school but obviously I only see them one or two hours a week so it is difficult to have a very big impact on their careers. I do hope Tadiwa Chinyama makes it, I see him three times a week and he plays very good tennis. He is showing very good promise and he is great hope for the future.” The Herald