“About seven years ago, our juniors were vying for a place in the World Group. We were seeded number 4 with only the top three going in to the top group, and beating countries like Japan and Australia. Now we are struggling to beat even one country,” said Aruna Seneviratne.

Aruna Senevirathne

The former manager and selector of the Sri Lankan national tennis team speaking to the Sunday Times added: “These days coaches focus on a player’s achievements in local tournaments. They gauge a junior player’s progress on how many titles that respective player wins locally instead of focusing on that player’s ITF (International Tennis Federation) ranking. One cannot solely blame the junior coaches. At times the SLTA (Sri Lanka Tennis Association) has adopted an ‘us and them approach meaning that the coaching staff at the SLTA are one group and the outside coaches are another group.”

“During the time when Neville Senaratne and Indian Arun Amaranathan were head coaches at the SLTA tennis flourished because both these coaches welcomed coaches and players from outside the SLTA. This is how it should be. Outside coaches should be welcomed by the SLTA and if there are promising players they should be absorbed in to tennis programmes being conducted by the SLTA,” said Seneviratne.

Speaking about the SLTA’s drive to revive tennis in the outstations, Seneviratne said: “That was a very good initiative that yielded results particularly in areas like Batticaloa and Negombo. And also areas like Ratnapura, Kurunegala and Bandarawela. A lot of players from Batticaloa play for Colombo school, so it is easy for people to forget that these players were first spotted in areas like Batticaloa. And this outstation drive illustrates my point. The coaches who went from Colombo did not go the outstations, set up their stall and tell the players come to us. Instead they worked with the personnel in those areas. Divisiveness is not good for any sport leave alone tennis. and in countries that are doing well in tennis the fact that there is no divisiveness is obvious. The SLTA must allow outside coaches and their players to make use of the facilities at the SLTA,” added Seneviratne.

Seneviratne was also very critical of the Sports Law. He said: “Unlike in other sports in tennis there are only a few people involved in the game. These people should be allowed to hold multiple posts. The Sports Law suffocates a sport instead of enabling a sport to progress. We have good people like Jayendra Wijesekera Shalini De Silva and Rohan De Silva to name just a few. Now take Rohan for example because he continues to play tennis to help develop the youngsters, he is prohibited to holding certain posts. In addition even the selection committee is restricted. The biggest decision they can make is whether to invite six or eight players for trials. The Selectors must be given a free hand and the discretion to do as they see fit. The Sports Ministry should not entertain complaints from anyone and everyone, most if not all of whom are looking out only for their own and not for the development and growth of the sport. All the same, I am glad that Suresh Subramaniam is part of the setup at the SLTA. He is person who has means and wherewithal to take the sport forward.”

“As far as senior tennis goes we are neither ahead or behind of where we should be. We are in Group Two of the Davis Cup in the Asia/Oceania Group. We may go down to Group Three and fight our way back to Group Two. Materially perhaps now the players get more than they did earlier. But it is not like it used to be during Arjun Fernando’s time. When he was the helm the players reflected Fernando’s qualities like commitment, seriousness etc. He motivated the players. Now that motivation does not seem to be there,” added Seneviratne.

When we asked Seneviratne what in his opinion was the way forward he said: “As I said earlier the Sports Law must cater to each individual sport, qualified people at the SLTA should be allowed to hold multiple posts without having the people who are not the best doing the best that they can. Outside coaches must be allowed into the SLTA setup. The Schools Tennis Association must come under the SLTA. And the top five players should be contracted by the SLTA.” he said in conclusion