Top seed to take to road tennis court

Barbados’ Sylvan ‘Llama’ Barnett will be showcasing his road tennis skills against world No. 3, Andy Murray, in London. (Picture by Kenmore Bynoe.)

By Kenmore Bynoe | Mon, November 07, 2011 - 12:03 AM

Barbados’ indigenous sport of road tennis has been served the chance of making it big on the world stage.

President of the Professional Road Tennis Association (PRTA) of Barbados, Dale Clarke, has been invited to London to spearhead a promotion involving World No. 3 tennis player Andy Murray, thanks to sporting kit icons Adidas.

According to Clarke the German-based company is keen to create branded gear for road tennis. Murray is one of tennis’ most seen faces, and also a member of the Adidas family.

“The aim is to put on an exhibition with Murray and former Barbados champions, Sylvan ‘Llama’ Barnett on November 14 to push the concept of road tennis in order to test the market for the Adidas product.

“This is a fantastic opportunity for road tennis as Adidas is an extremely popular worldwide brand which is linked to almost every known sport.

“In addition to joining those world sports, road tennis also stands the chance of being exposed throughout Europe,” stated Clarke.

Another Barbados former king of the sport, Edward “Dabo” Carrington, is based in London and he is expected to be part of the exhibition which is being funded and organized by We Are Social Marketing Group.

Successive Barbados governments in conjunction with the National Sports Council have attempted to push road tennis in Venezuela and Cuba and as far as China. Clarke who is one of the driving forces behind the highly successful Racquets of Fire which got started on Saturday night indicated that he was not concerned about copyrighting road tennis as a Barbados product.

“What the PRTA is aiming for is to create a franchise like the NBA or the PGA where countries would bid to host tournaments involving players from all over the world,” said Clarke.

This year the PRTA will be launching an Academy at Belfield and which will see the sport being introduced in a greater organized manner to the youth of the island. The Racquets of Fire will also be heading to St John for the first time with a fully fit Junior ‘Michael Jackson’ White looking to light up the Gall Hill hard-court.