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Sports Reporter
BULAWAYO comes alive from today until Wednesday when the country’s budding tennis stars converge for two national competitions – the Bulawayo Open and the Tarryn-Leigh De Souza Memorial.
The ceremonial home of tennis, the Bulawayo Athletic Club (BAC) is undergoing renovations for December’s African Union Sports Council Region Five Under-20 Games which means the two competitions will be played at Country Club and Girls’ College.

The Bulawayo Open precedes the fifth edition of the Tarryn-Leigh De Souza.  It starts this morning with its finals being played on Sunday while the Tarryn-Leigh De Souza Memorial roars into life on Monday ending on Wednesday.

The Bulawayo Metropolitan Province Tennis Board chairman Zeb Mawisire said all is set for the competitions.
He said the competition will be used for ranking players.

“Last year we had over 120 entrants for the Bulawayo Open and the Tarryn-Leigh De Souza competitions. These are some of the country’s biggest tournaments in our calendar and all the provinces have confirmed their participation.

“We are looking forward to having an improved turnout,” said Mawisire.
In 2010 Tennis Zimbabwe turned the Tarryn-Leigh De Souza Memorial tournament into a national competition to be used for player rankings.

The tournament is meant to celebrate the life of De Souza, one of the best players to come out of Bulawayo who died in 2009 due to heart failure.

Tarryn-Leigh represented Matabeleland and Zimbabwe in a number of tournaments at the age of 18 when she was ranked third in the country.

She won a scholarship to play and study at Oklahoma Christian University in the US in 2003 and at the time she left for abroad she was one of the top players in the land.

She had just graduated with a sporting degree when she died.
“This competition is meant to develop talent, a vision that Tarryn-Leigh had on her return from the United States.

“She wanted to help up-and-coming tennis players and as a family we are pleased that the tournament is one of the major events on Tennis Zimbabwe calendar. We are also happy that as a family we are contributing towards shaping of athletes’ future,” said Tarryn-Leigh’s father Alison.