It wasn\u2019t until Thebe was 16 that he decided he wanted to test himself on the international stage and try to break into the professional ranks.<\/p>\n
\u201cI became really interested in actually pursuing that tennis dream, trying to get into the pro tour,\u201d Thebe told Waikato All Sports Breakfast recently.<\/p>\n
That dream is now taking shape.<\/p>\n
With support from Waikato Tennis Association and a growing group of sponsors, Thebe will head overseas for three months to compete in base\u2011level tournaments on the ITF Men\u2019s World Tour.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s the first rung on the ladder towards challenger events and eventually the ATP Tour.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s the entry level. You progress up from there,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Since leaving school, Thebe has committed fully to tennis. <\/p>\n
He trains three to four hours a day on-court, plus ball\u2011machine sessions to sharpen consistency and he runs around the lake three times a week.<\/p>\n
Finding strong hitting partners in Hamilton has been a challenge, Thebe said, with many of Waikato\u2019s top players having moved overseas or into college tennis pathways.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s why he makes regular trips to Tennis Auckland, as the club has offered him free access to high\u2011performance facilities and he can train against higher\u2011level athletes, building the competitive edge he\u2019ll need on tour. <\/p>\n
Aside from training, Thebe said the road to professional tennis required \u201ca lot of finances\u201d, with travel, accommodation, coaching, equipment and tournament entry fees all quickly adding up.<\/p>\n
Since leaving school, Thando Thebe has committed fully to tennis. Photo \/ David M Photography<\/p>\n
He said he is fortunate to have strong backing from his family and a group of sponsors who believe in his potential and are committed to supporting his journey.<\/p>\n
\u201cOnce you … start winning more tournaments, more income comes in. I\u2019m trying to build a team around me that can help out.\u201d<\/p>\n
While his immediate focus is the upcoming tournaments in Australia and Thailand, Thebe knows a major decision looms. <\/p>\n
Strong results could open doors to Division I or II college tennis in the United States, a pathway many young players take to develop their game while earning a degree. <\/p>\n
But he\u2019s also considering going straight into fulltime professional tennis.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ll have to decide in the next couple of months. We\u2019ll see how we go.\u201d<\/p>\n
Graeme \u201cMintie\u201d Mead is a sports commentator, the host of the radio show Waikato All Sports Breakfast and a Newstalk ZB overnight host. He is also a councillor on the Hamilton City Council.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It wasn\u2019t until Thebe was 16 that he decided he wanted to test himself on the international stage…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":28917,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[10775,4793,10770,5780,2469,8917,10771,10767,2386,2149,378,3006,10772,1362,10776,5784,10773,5663,28,10768,10769,10774,8673,10766],"class_list":["post-28916","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","tag-becoming","tag-career","tag-chasing","tag-dream","tag-first","tag-hamilton","tag-his","tag-hopeful","tag-into","tag-major","tag-of","tag-player","tag-preparing","tag-professional","tag-reality","tag-step","tag-take","tag-teenager","tag-tennis","tag-thando","tag-thebe","tag-towards","tag-turning","tag-waikato"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28916","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28916"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28916\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28917"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28916"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28916"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28916"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}