If you are a budding lawn tennis player in Guyana and you dream constantly of playing against the Roger Federers and Justine Henins of the world then bring your `A’ game to Le Meridien, Pegasus Hotel courts on Sunday.
In so doing you just might be able to fulfil your dream as former national lawn tennis champion, Diwani Lewis, will be on hand to assess your game.
Lewis is presently in Guyana and scouting local talent.
He returned home last Sunday to spend the remainder of the holidays with his family and will be using this opportunity to check out the serve and volley games of the local talent.
Lewis aims to identify if possible, three players who may be competent enough to gain athletic scholarships.
Lewis himself is currently based in Baltimore, Maryland, as an assistant tennis coach and third year Psychology student at Morgan State University.
“Our university has given many athletic scholarships to top players around the world, as far as Russia and as close as Grenada, and since I usually perform the duties of a scout looking for talent, I want to meet with some of the best players this week-end at the Le Meridien Tennis courts to see if they are talented enough,” he declared.
Lewis said the tennis team at Morgan State University was looking to obtain two females and one male player and that he was hoping that one or two of the local players might be good enough.
Five players have specifically requested to be present and they are Jeremy Miller, Rene Vieira, Alice Ali and Anthony Downes.
They are asked to be bring their ‘A’ game on Sunday at Le Meridien Tennis Courts where Lewis will perform his assessment to determine whether they have attained the required level.
Although Lewis’s last visit to Guyana had been over two years ago, he says he knew some of the players and had been following their progress online via newspaper reports.
Lewis told Stabroek Sport that providing all goes well and he is impressed, he will work along the players to produce video footage of their game to send to the Head Coach at Morgan State, who will make the final decision.
He added that if the players satisfy the criteria both academically and athletically, they could be enrolled as early as the 2008 fall semester (September).
Lewis left the country in 2000 on a similar scenario after two overseas coaches, Edmond Plass, and Kayyum Naj, two former national players, were impressed with his game while he was still a junior player and connected him to an overseas based Guyanese Bill Adams.
Lewis was later awarded an athletic Scholarship to play at the Adams International Tennis Academy in Florida, USA.
Before playing at the Adams International Academy, Lewis had excelled locally , capturing singles and doubles titles in all the categories that he competed in ever since he was 12-years-old.
Lewis said success had not been an easy road for him and that it entailed years and years of intense training both mentally and on the tennis court.
He said lawn tennis requires 75 percent mental application and 25 percent skill.
The 27-year-old Lewis advises that mental toughness and pure determination are some of the key elements that should be embodied in aspiring tennis players, adding that he wished to thank all those who were instrumental in his journey including local coach William Skeete, Adams and Naj for paving the way for him.
