As already reported, a notable event in the sports life of Turkmenistan was the recent first short-term visit to our country by the President of the International Tennis Federation (ITF) David Haggerty and the President of the Asian Tennis Federation (ATF) Yuriy Polskiy.

A «GA» correspondent met with the head of the ATF and interviewed him exclusively.

– Yuriy Fedorovich, how do you assess the results of your visit to Turkmenistan?

– I am very glad that the opportunity arose to visit Turkmenistan and establish closer cooperation with the national Tennis Federation. Last year, the Turkmenistan Tennis Federation made a real splash by holding the U12 qualifying tournament in Central Asia at a very high level. They talked a lot about him in tennis circles, citing him as an example to follow in organizing competitions. Naturally, we are interested in your sports infrastructure. I wanted to see everything with my own eyes in order to understand how widely it can be used not only at the level of Turkmenistan, but throughout Asia as a whole.

– Were your expectations met?

– My expectations were exceeded. I didn't expect this level. If we talk about the tennis centre in the Olympic village of Ashgabat, it is in the TOP-5.

- In Asia?

- In the world! ATP 500 tournaments can be safely held in Ashgabat. This is a series of professional tennis tournaments, the winner of which receives 500 ranking points in the standings. Even the Masters can be held here, with 5 indoor courts, 12 outdoor courts and all the necessary facilities. In addition, you have all the conditions to host the Davis Cup, Billie Jean King at an international level. I was also pleased with the quality of everything that is here.

It is very important that the President of the Tennis Federation of Turkmenistan Eziz Dovletov was elected to the Board of Directors of the Asian Federation (ATF). Colleagues also expressed great confidence in him and asked him to be the ATF vice president for the Central Asian region. Let me note that such a significant event has never happened before in the history of Turkmen tennis. And, in my opinion, it is natural. On the one hand, this is recognition of the achievements of Turkmen tennis, and on the other hand, it is an opportunity to work together and achieve new successes.

I am from Central Asia. We have previously worked closely with the leadership of the Turkmen Tennis Federation. Of course, we will still try to help each other. We are not competitors here, we work together. My philosophy: only by helping each other can we grow. I hope that in the next four years the Tennis Federation of Turkmenistan will receive a new impetus for development, because there is support at the highest level from the head of state, there is support from the International Tennis Federation (ITF), from the Asian Tennis Federation (ATF), there is a modern sports base, there are traditions. And on this basis we need to grow further.

– During his visit to Ashgabat, President of the International Tennis Federation (ITF) David Haggerty, in recognition of the great contribution of President Serdar Berdimuhamedov to the development of tennis in Turkmenistan, presented the head of state with an ITF certificate. What impressions did you have from the meeting with the President of Turkmenistan?

– It was very pleasant to hear about his great awareness of the development of tennis in the country, about many issues that need to be resolved. President Serdar Berdimuhamedov is well versed in the nuances of this sport, knows the players, knows about the problems that exist, and also actively involves us, international organizations, in the joint development of tennis. He sincerely worries that sports actively develop in the country, because sports are an important part of the development of society.

We had a fairly open discussion with the head of state on the development of tennis. And it is very gratifying that the President supported all our initiatives.

– Which ones exactly?

– I also had a point in my election program about opening several regional tennis training centers in Asia. Turkmenistan has all the conditions for the creation of one of these centers and the growth of the skills of players in the Central Asian region. An example of this is the good result that the team of the boys of Turkmenistan showed last year at the Central Asian U12 Championship. At the last competition, she beat the Uzbekistan team for the first time and also reached the final stage, which took place in Astana, for the first time.

In addition, you have excellent players under 14 years old, such as Ilima Huseynova, who is in the TOP 4 in Asia at her age. Thanks to such a high rating, she received the right to play in a qualifying tournament in Malaysia to qualify for junior Wimbledon. In order for her to qualify for the prestigious Grand Slam tournament, she needs to reach the final.

But no matter how Ilima plays there, it will be a good foundation for the future for her.

We also have tournaments for under 16s. Therefore, if it doesn’t work out with Wimbledon, Ilima can try to get to the junior Roland Garros. This year there will be a qualifying round, then the final stage will take place in Japan, where a wild card for the junior Grand Slam next year will be played. We also have a project with the Australian Open, so there are many opportunities. The main thing is that the players participate in all this and achieve success through competitive experience.

I am sure that thanks to joint projects, more athletes will reach a high level of competition, because you have a lot of talented tennis players. We watched the training sessions and saw that the guys’ eyes were sparkling, that they wanted to achieve a lot in tennis. Coaches also want to develop. I was pleased to see how much time the coaches had already invested in their training. Many of them already have a Level-1 category, some have Level-2. I am sure that this is just the beginning, that they will continue to grow professionally.

Our task is to work together with the Tennis Federation of Turkmenistan so that Turkmen tennis develops further, and withit tennis in Central Asia and Asia as a whole.

– When are you planning to open a regional tennis centre for Central Asia in Ashgabat?

– I would like for us to implement the first project in Ashgabat in September of this year, possibly starting with training camps and some tournaments. The sooner we start, the sooner we will gain first experience and understand where we need to work better and accordingly develop further.

– Are you planning to hold training camps?

– There is no point in holding only a training camp if it is not tied to some event. And the key event for any tennis player is the tournament. Therefore, in my opinion, there should be a training camp and a series of tournaments at once, where the strongest players in Asia could train with Turkmen tennis players and play in the tournament. Thus, a double effect is obtained: on the one hand, interaction in the training process, on the other hand, competitive experience in the tournament, in which it will be possible to earn rating points.

There are other ideas for the further development of tennis in Turkmenistan. At the meeting with the respected President Serdar Berdimuhamedov, we also discussed the possibility of building tennis centres in other regions of the country, including in the first «smart» city of Arkadag, which already has its own sports infrastructure.

The tennis centre in the Olympic village of Ashgabat, where many children play, is well maintained. Therefore, in order to attract even greater mass participation in this sport and increase competition among players, it is better to have several similar objects. We have used this strategy in Kazakhstan for many years, and it has shown high efficiency. Turkmenistan, in my opinion, has great attention to the development of sports on the part of the President of the country and National Leader of the Turkmen people Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov

There is every opportunity to implement more than one ambitious project in tennis.