Dear Tennis Family,
We literally hit the ground running since New Year’s Day with our ATP 250 event and the first 100 days of the year was just as hectic and challenging as twelve months ago. I want to give you a timely update of our work in progress during the second year of my term as president, so we will issue a quarterly bulletin from now on to keep you posted.
Strengthening Governance Capabilities and Resetting the Development Pathway
As the national sports association (NSA) responsible for the promotion and development of tennis in Hong Kong, the Hong Kong, China Tennis Association (HKCTA) recognises the importance of upholding standards of governance, transparency, and integrity in all aspects of our operations in accordance to the government’s mandate and the governance standard set by the SF&OC.
Therefore, we will regularly review and update our policies, procedures, and structures to enhance HKCTA’s governance and operational efficiency because an environment conducive to player development must be in place in order for our athletes to realise their potential.
High Performance
We kicked off the new year with a resolve to continue the revamping of HKCTA’s player development pathway by combining the work streams of tournament planning and selection strategy under a newly-formed Elite Committee; and we repositioned the Development Committee to focus on widening the participation strategy at the base.
Establishing a solid foundation is key to building an infrastructure that is conducive to long-term growth and the alignment with HKSI.
The Davis Cup team produced a hard-fought playoff win against Namibia away and earned the chance to compete in the World Group II 1st Round in September when we will face Uzbekistan in a home tie. I envisage another fiercely contested affair, possibly going down to the wire once again. Home court is only an advantage with your support, so come down to Victoria Park Centre Court and make your presence felt!
We should also be proud of the under-14 boys’ team for making it to this year’s ITF World Junior Tennis Finals in Prostejov, Czechia. This is only the fourth time a boys’ contingent from Hong Kong has managed to secure a place among the world’s best 16 teams in this age group since the competition’s inception in 1991.
Coleman Wong’s run at the Miami Open was remarkable, as he became the first player from Hong Kong to beat a world No. 14 in Ben Shelton in addition to advancing to the third round of an ATP Masters 1000 event. These are unprecedented feats in the history of Hong Kong tennis and he has support from all of us, as he pursues newer heights on the ATP Tour.
On the ITF World Tennis Tour Juniors, NTS Elite member, Kai Thompson’s four consecutive boys’ singles titles was equally impressive, a feat only previously attained by HKCTA Hall of Fame inductee, Kelvin Inge, back in 1981. I have to say, some of the tactical changes we incorporated to the coaching bench are already beginning to pay some dividends.
The government’s decision to extend Tier A status to tennis for two more years is very much welcome. Given the growth of tennis both internationally and regionally, applying some flexibility to the EVSS criteria is certainly a step in the right direction to cater for the nuance of the structure of the sport.
The next 24 months will be crucial to restructuring the technical pathway and allowing us to invest resources in those players, who have the aspiration and commitment to winning honours for Hong Kong.
We are moving the dial on the development side and there is more clarity to the pathway now that the alignment between HKSI (elite) and HKCTA (pre-elite and development) is optimised. Working in a collaborative effort, HKCTA is to provide good mentorship and guidance, while HKSI oversees the training of high performance players, who are committed to building fitness and playing a heavy load of matches, especially overseas. We believe with this combined focus we stand a much better chance of producing more players and better players, and results will come naturally.
Mega Sports Events
The Hong Kong Tennis Season (HKTS) is going strong and establishing a good repute
We reiterate that the staging of world-class international events will continue to enhance Hong Kong’s global image, making it more attractive for tourism and business, and thus having the impact to establish our city as an events destination hub.
To truly industrialise tennis, we will continue the mission to corporatise our development programmes and our three (3) flagship mega tennis events.
We have had three “M” Mark events in the last 12 months and we won two global awards (and counting) for the WTA events. By most quantifiable measures, the ATP 250 was also a very solid showing improving from last year in many respects and already acquiring a reputation of being one of the top events on the professional tour. Over the medium term, however, we ought to position Hong Kong as a training base / recovery centre for ATP and WTA professionals and this will help tremendously with our activation strategy.
I now want to share some exciting news with you. We have acquired the rights to host the first Ultimate Tennis Showdown (UTS) in Asia. It is more than just a tennis tournament; it’s a dazzling fusion of world-class athleticism and entertainment. It is a mega event tailor-made for Hong Kong. I have had a chance to visit UTS Nimes to witness first hand and the atmosphere was electrifying. After nine editions, it is maturing as an event and is gaining significant global appeal.
Bringing UTS to Hong Kong and the newly opened Kai Tak Sports Park (KTSP) is another significant coup and a demonstration of our willingness to think outside of the box to put up a good show for Asia’s World City. I am excited about bringing new storylines and engaging content in the coming Hong Kong Tennis Season.
The Addition of Key Personnel
We are adding expertise and depth to the leadership bench.
We just announced the appointment of Steven Host as the next Director of Player Development effective on 1 May. He has a proven track record of building technical programmes and producing top players. The appointment demonstrates our commitment to assimilate international benchmarking and our conviction to be thoughtful in bringing the right leader for our programme.
A big part of what I do is about international benchmark and we found a current international expert in Steven.
My team and I have spent a good part of the last year meeting a broad base of the tennis community and learning about the state of HKG tennis ranging from elite performance strategy, grassroots development, competition environment, team cultures and the overall development pathway. Soul searching is important in order to define the mission of a tennis federation. I will just say that there’s a lot of repositioning and realignment needed. Steven has had experience to execute reset strategy before and I am confident he can do the same for HKG. He is the leader for us to set the tone at the top.
In addition, Amelia Yau is a career accountant and her appointment will inject expertise to the Council to help with financial discipline and management.
We are adding a lot of depth to the leadership bench of the HKCTA.
Looking Ahead
To truly industrialise tennis, we will continue the mission to corporatise our development programmes and our three (3) flagship mega tennis events. Our endeavour to deliver world-class tennis events to build a brand name for Hong Kong and being a significant contributor to the mega event economy is unwavering. On the player development front, with the arrival of our new Director of Player Development overseeing the resetting of our NTS programme, not to mention the collaboration between HKCTA and HKSI with regard to ETG high performance players, there is much work to be done.
Meanwhile, this summer, the Hong Kong, China team comprising ATP No. 175 Coleman Wong and WTA No. 377 Cody Wong, among others, will travel to Germany for the Rhine-Ruhr 2025 FISU World University Games. Later in the year, we will be contesting the 15th National Games where the tennis events are held in Zhuhai. The opening ceremony will take place in Guangzhou on 9 November 2025.
I look forward to our next quarterly bulletin.
Sincerely
Michael Cheng, President
Hong Kong, China Tennis Association