Travelling via police escort, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Jeff Coetzee and Wesley Moodie headed to Soweto (South Western Townships) on Wednesday to meet and coach some of the sprawling township’s kids at the Arthur Ashe Tennis Centre in White City, Jabavu.
Tsonga and Coetzee/Moodie, the SA Tennis Open singles and doubles No.1 seeds respectively, spent more than an hour running through basic training drills with the youngest kids, while hitting with or coaching the future generation of South African tennis players, some of whom had never picked up a racquet before.
At the end of the clinic, youngsters from the Jabavu and neighbouring areas broke out in song in appreciation and moments later the broad-smiling Muhammad Ali look-alike tennis pro started dancing, even throwing in the odd Ali-shuffle in his routine.
"As a kid I never had a chance to go to clinics which were conducted by the world's top players," said Tsonga. "It's really great for them although I think many of them do not know the players here. But I would like them to go home and dream about becoming professional tennis players one day. They've got to be able to dream about it because that could be the start of great things for them. It's so important that they are able to dream."
You can read more about Tsonga's visit to Soweto here
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