ZIMBABWE’S leading female professional tennis player Valeria Bhunu can be forgiven for losing count of the countries around the world she has visited during her tennis career.
BY DANIEL NHAKANISO
“I’ve lost count, but I think around 30 more or less,” the 23-year-old budding tennis star said with a chuckle during an interview with The Sports Hub this week when asked how many countries she’s been to thus far.
Professional tennis players are famous for criss-crossing the globe in search of those elusive ranking points and prize money in an arduous travel schedule that would make even the most hardened frequent flyer shudder, dashing in and out of cities on a weekly basis.
It’s the lifestyle Bhunu has had to come to terms with as she continues to climb her way up the global tennis ladder from the lower rungs of the pro circuit.
Since the start of the year, the Cape Town-based player has already been to Egypt, Bahrain, Turkey and Portugal, where she’s been based for the last five weeks since May.
A fortnight ago, Bhunu was in Portugal, where she reached the final of the $15 000 Seixal Ladies’ Open in the port town of Setúbal.
“There are a lot of highs,” Bhunu said. “Some of the most important things are travelling and gaining worldly experience, seeing the world and learning about different cultures.
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“You become a bit more open-minded and travel smart. Tennis is a sport, which builds one’s character in a way that will help them in anything else they may do in the future. It is very giving,” she said.
Bhunu is, however, the first to admit that while travelling around the world has its highs, there’s also the downside.
“Some of the downs are that it can get lonely out there,” Bhunu reveals. “Being away is exciting, but you tend to always miss home. It’s also very exhausting, the flights, trains, buses. Moving around constantly, it’s tough.
Being the only female Zimbabwean tennis player competing consistently on the International Tennis Federation (ITF) Women’s Circuit also does not make it any easier for Bhunu, whose competitors from other countries travel together for tournaments.
“I travel alone a lot and see other players who travel with their country mates. It makes the whole experience a little bit easier as you will be always set with roommates and practice partners. These are small things which play a huge role. And obviously the big things like not having a Fed Cup team is very sad. So I hope the future generations will take it upon themselves to change these things and build a team,” she said.
Despite the challenges she has faced, Bhunu, who won her maiden title on the ITF Women’s Circuit in Stellenbosch, Western Cape, South Africa, two years ago, continues to punch above her weight on the circuit.
Two weeks ago the former top junior player enjoyed her best tournament run this year after reaching the final of the Seixal Ladies’ Open, where she lost 4-6, 3-6 to the eventual winner Paige Hourigan from New Zealand.
A week earlier, Bhunu had also reached the singles semi-finals of the Amarante Ladies’ Open in northern Portugal.
“I think the week in Portugal was a step up from all the weeks I had been playing before. I started playing better the more I played, hence the good result in my last tournament. Moving forward, I would like to play as consistently as I did those weeks in Portugal,” Bhunu said.
In fact, Bhunu reckons she is close to winning again on the circuit, although her immediate focus is on improving her game.
“I definitely feel a lot closer to winning because my match play has improved a lot over the last couple of weeks. I learnt a lot more than I’ve had in a while. I feel this season is the best I’ve had since 2016. So I am feeling positive and looking forward to building my game even more in the next couple of months, more improvement-orientated than result-orientated,” she said.
Bhunu, who won the Zimbabwe Open title in 2010 aged only 15, hails from a tennis family, with her father, Regis, having previously served as the Tennis Zimbabwe president while her young sister Kimberly is also a budding tennis star.
Kimberly, who was previously based at the Mouratoglou Tennis Academy in Paris, France, recently enrolled at California Polytechnic State University on a tennis scholarship.
This means the pair will have to wait a bit longer before they can team up as a pair on the ITF Women’s Circuit.
“Kimberly is a very intelligent girl and very talented as well. She graduated as the Valedictorian from Mouratoglou.
As much as I would love to have her play on tour with me right away, she has to exploit her amazing capabilities as a scholar first. Maybe after university, if she is looking to play professionally, then she will at that point. For now she will be studying and playing college tennis in the States,” Valeria said.
