The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

LOOKING at the landscape of tennis in the country, professional player Kevin Major Jr said there is a need for a change in leadership of the Bahamas Lawn Tennis Association in order for the sport to continue to progress.

In a gut-wrenching interview on the eve of the BLTA’s annual general meeting on Saturday at the National Tennis Centre, Major Jr is calling for more emphasis to be placed on the players and the things in place rather than trying to focus on getting more done internationally.

Major Jr was referring to incumbent president Perry Newton, who is seeking re-election for his second two-year term in office. He’s expected to be challenged by former football player turned tennis player Ken Kerr.

But according to reports, Kerr and his slate of officers are trying to get the AGM and elections halted and postponed until they can get some internal matters cleared up as it pertains to who is eligible to vote during the elections, scheduled to start at 3pm on Saturday.

“Right now, to me, he’s not focusing on what he has around him,” said Major Jr of Newton.

“It’s not a bad thing, but I think that if he pays a lot more attention to us, who are under his wings, things will flow a lot better.

“A lot of people feel like he’s trying to implement new things, but he’s neglecting the people who he has around him. I feel that’s his main problem. He’s not allowing the tennis community who is there to continue to be there.”

Major Jr said one of the difficulties they have is that the NTC is normally closed during the day, which doesn’t allow the players the opportunity to practice and there’s virtually no tournaments for them to participate in.

Without going into all of the details, Major Jr said he encountered some financial problems leaving Germany in the COVID-19 pandemic where he was participating in a tournament to get to Panama last year to represent the Bahamas at the Davis Cup Tie.

As the top ranked national player behind Justin Roberts, who holds the top international ranking because of his ATP points, Major Jr said he feels that the persons surrounding Newton are not as knowledgeable about the sport and there are people who want to help, but they are not given a chance to do so.

“There are a lot of people out there who want to assist, but they are not being given a chance to help out,” Major Jr said.

In winning his seat over Daphany Mortier in 2020, Major Jr claims that Newton got a number of persons who barely knew anything about the sport to become financial members and voted him in, but he said he feels it wasn’t the best way to do it.

“The majority of the tennis community did not vote for him,” Major Jr said.

“The majority of the people who voted for him probably only been to the national tennis centre about five times in their lives.”

Having gone through his own personal battles with the BLTA executives over the past few years, Major Jr said his focus right now is simply on tennis because he has to make the decisions that are right for him.

He, along with his uncle, Philip Major Jr, recently launched the Island Tennis Bahamas Programme earlier this month at the Atlantis resort and Baha Mar tennis courts.

“I am my own boss and if I don’t win, I don’t make any money,” he said. “It doesn’t matter which president is in office, my job is to be a professional tennis player and not a politician. But I still would like to see the sport being operated in a manner that would allow me to get the maximum out of the sport.

“I’m only thinking like this because I’ve been through so much with the BLTA. It’s a lot of back and forth with he say and she say. I just think that whoever is elected, if they focus on the people who are around tennis, it would be a whole lot better.”

Although there are restrictions put in place as a result of COVID-19, Major Jr said the NTC is almost a ghost town, especially on the weekends when the majority of the players come out to practice and play against each other when there are no tournaments scheduled. “There were times when I went to the courts to practice and I had to jump the fence because the centre was locked up,” Major Jr pointed out. “When I told the president about it, he told me to give him a time I would be there and when I did, he told me the time was too early.

“As the best player in the country, I don’t think I should be struggling to get on the court. I just think he should focus on the people in the tennis community who want to be out there to make the sport better and not worry so much on the new things.”

In Kerr, Major Jr said he feels the sport can move further ahead because as a player, who has been around the sport for a while, he knows what is needed to get the tennis community more interested in coming back to participate. “He knew the players who played 20 years ago and he could tell you when the tennis centre was rocking and when it started to decline,” Major Jr said. “He has a history there. He knows what’s going on and he’s a likeable person.

“We need to get the tennis community back involved in the sport. It’s not about one person. I feel Ken Kerr is a person who can get the job done. I don’t have a problem with Perry as a person, but I just think he neglected the people in the tennis community.”

Whoever is elected, Major Jr said he would like to see a programme in place where if he or any other pro player approaches the BLTA, they can get some sound advice or support in taking their game to the next level.

“We need to know that they can assist us in what route should they take, which coach should they pursue, which gym should they attend, who should they talk to about fitness, who can they contact about travelling and who can help them get into tournaments,” he said.

“Those things are just not there. I think that is why so many players at my level stopped playing because they didn’t have any help or guidance. We don’t even have a time when all of the pro players at home can come together even if it’s just one day and do some things together.”

If the sport is going to progress the way it should, Major Jr said they need some people at the top, on the executive board, who can make things happen. Otherwise, he said the BLTA will end up losing more players.