Shenzhen company teams up with Boris Becker to open tennis academy

Former world No 1 tennis player Boris Becker sends a tennis-racket as a gift to Tennial Chu, vice chairman of Mission Hills,as both sides announced to open a tennis academy in Shenzhen on Saturday. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

Mission Hills Group, a resort and leisure sports operator based in Shenzhen, Guangdong province, has teamed up with the former world tennis champion Boris Becker to open the world's first tennis academy, according to the company.

"Establishment of the tennis academy aims to develop more tennis talents in China, a country with a growing number of young tennis players," said Becker.

Becker, who was born in 1967 in German and is a six-time major singles champions, said both sides will conduct a series of competitions in the years ahead to promote the sport in China.

"China needs more supports in tennis development, especially in the men's sector, from the international circle. We expect that there will be more young Chinese people to join the sport," said Becker.

Former world No 1 tennis player Boris Becker speaks at a ceremony in Shenzhen. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

China's population of tennis players grew averagely by 20 percent year-on-year in the past few years, reaching 12 million in 2015, according to industrial figures.

"The academy is not only the world's first one of its kind, but will be the best as we are teaming up with the world's best tennis coach," said Tennial Chu, vice-chairman of Mission Hills.

Mission Hills currently has developed 42 courts in its Shenzhen complex, which has become training base for China's national tennis team since 1998.

Since becoming head coach of Novak Djokovic in 2013, Becker has contributed to five of Novak's 11 grand slam titles and 10 of his 26 masters 1,000 titles.