Tennis Zimbabwe require at least US$30 000 if they are to make it for their Davis Cup tie against Finland in the Europe/Africa Zone Group II early next year.

TZ president Regis Bhunu said that an extra US$10 000 would enable the side to camp adequately outside Zimbabwe and play a few tournaments ahead of the Davis Cup match set to take place between March 4 to 6 next year

“We have a budget of around US$30 000. But given a chance we would want about US$40 000 to allow our players to camp for long and maybe even assist them play some tournaments before the tie. That’s if we are able to raise US$40 000.

“We have already approached our traditional sponsors and we are just waiting for their response,” said Bhunu.

Zimbabwe  remained in Group II this year when they beat Moldova 5-0 in a relegation play-off at Harare Sports Club in July and the selection team is currently monitoring different players in terms of their performance ahead of team selection next year.

“You would want the players to be in an environment close to where they will be playing. We have not yet finalised on that but it depends on whether we have the funds.

“The selection team decided not to name the team now. They want to continue watching how players are performing maybe until January,” said Bhunu.

The TZ president believes 2015 was a fruitful year for tennis with Zimbabwe hosting a number of events including the Davis Cup ties, ITF Futures events and the ITF 18-and-Under junior tournaments.

“Our players are getting better and if you look at the calibre of players that we have we notice that most of them are coming from the junior circuit. For instance Benjamin Lock, his standard of play has gone up and so we foresee a future where we will be strong.

“2015 was an excellent year in terms of our tennis development and player involvement. Locally we managed to host a number of tournaments including junior tournaments. We had three weeks of the (ITF) 18-and-Under, three weeks of ITF Futures events and the Davis Cup.

“In terms of players activity you find that a lot of our players are moving around playing futures tournaments. The numbers are increasing showing the appetite for our players to turn professional.  It has been a very good year for tennis. If we are able to do the same in 2016 then we will consolidate this,” said Bhunu.

Zimbabwe earned promotion into the Europe/Africa Zone Group II last year from Africa Zone Group III.  And this year they hosted the two Davis Cup ties against Bosnia-Herzegovina and Moldova in March and July respectively.

They lost the first tie against Bosnia-Herzegovina before prevailing over Moldova to remain in Group II and next year they will be hoping for better fortunes as they seek to move to the next Group.

If they win against Finland in March they will then take on either Georgia or Denmark in the second round in July and victory here would mean they progress to the Group I promotional play-offs, a defeat meaning they go for relegation play-offs.