ACE Future!

Tennis legend Boris Becker expressed optimism over the future of tennis in Bahrain and hoped that one day the kingdom will play host to major regional tournaments.

The three-time Wimbledon champion, who was visiting Bahrain as an international ambassador for Riffa Views, endorsed the Riffa Views Tennis Academy by signing on the plans which will mark the beginning of its construction. The academy is due to be completed next summer and will boast the kingdom's first A-class facility.

"I'm not simply putting my name and face to the project. Riffa Views is a hands-on project as far as I'm concerned and an ongoing commitment from my side. I'm very excited about my first tennis academy which has my name on it and I see myself coming to Bahrain a lot more in future," Mr Becker told Gulf Weekly prior to beginning his three-day schedule of activities in Bahrain.

This was his third visit to the kingdom this year.

"Tennis is an extremely popular sport in the Middle East and it has room to grow which I'm certain will happen with time. Tennis has been in this region for a long time.

"I played and won one of the first few tournaments held in this part of the world in Doha, Qatar in 1991 when most people in Germany didn't know much about the region," he said.

"Bahrain is developing by leaps and bounds with projects like the Bahrain Bay and other high profile commercial and housing projects. And with more exposure to tennis as a popular sport I can see Bahrain hosting tennis tournaments in the region.

"But what I like about Bahrain is that it hasn't lost its flavour and the originality of the desert and its beauty amidst the concrete development."

Speaking about the controversies clouding international tennis, Mr Becker commented that, "tennis has been making headlines for all the wrong reasons lately. There was a time when tennis wasn't in the news much because some of the big names in tennis had stepped down and no one as good as Federer and Nadal had taken the centre stage yet.

"But there are stringent rules and regulations which take care of issues like doping and poisoning as tennis is an Olympic sport and these things are simply not allowed.

"The same is true for gambling and match fixing. When I started playing tennis there was no internet and gambling and throwing a game was simply unheard of."

Mr Becker plays an equal amount of tennis as golf these days more for charity than anything else. He actively raises money for the Cleven-Becker Foundation that supports popular sports and junior programs in Germany and supports other charitable endeavours. During his stay in Bahrain, he played the 2007 American Mission Hospital Island Classic Charity Golf Tournament at Shaikh Hamad bin Isa al Khalifa's private golf course in Malkiya.

"Next year I hope to play a charity golf match at the Riffa Views greens," said Mr Becker reiterating his true commitment to charity.