Off the premise that the sport is growing across the island, Tennis Jamaica President John Azar says the association is moving closer to constructing a multimillion-dollar facility in the coming years to transition from its home at Eric Bell Tennis Centre.

Azar, who has led Tennis Jamaica since 2019, is in his third tenure as president, and said he won’t seek re-election in 2028.

During his tenure, the local governing body has invested heavily in the decades-old Eric Bell Tennis Centre in Kingston as it hosted several high-level tournaments, including the Davis Cup in 2023, 2024 and 2025.

However, in recent times, some events have moved to other venues including this year’s staging of the Davis Cup between Jamaica and Uruguay, which took place at Liguanea Club in New Kingston.

Azar says the construction of a new home is almost certain, though he acknowledged it is more of a long-term project

“We are in advanced discussions to build a national tennis centre elsewhere but, based on the sensitivity of those discussions, there’s a lot that goes into it,” he said. “Funding is not where the issue is, which may sound unusual, but the funding has been secured through private sponsorship and through sponsorship from the International Tennis Federation.

“It’s just a matter of tying down certain things in terms of the land needs, so in the interim, we’ll continue to function from the Eric Bell National Tennis Centre. but I certainly foresee a day sooner than later, where we will relocate to a more central location.”

Azar, though, says they intend to help construct more courts islandwide to increase participation outside of their current spaces.

“The one hindrance to tennis development is any of us can take a football now and go find a place and play football but tennis is limited by the number of courts,” he said.

“But we’re in discussions with the various schools across the island, many of whom have land space available to building out courts throughout the schools. Our vision going forward is to make tennis a mainstream sport and certainly to reduce any cost barriers that exist going forward.”

Increased courts would also mean an increase in the need for qualified coaches but Azar doesn’t foresee that to be an issue.

“We do have a very strong programme now in the schools, interacting with and working with an establishment like G C Foster [College]. So a PE teacher who would teach football or would teach cricket in school can now be certified to teach tennis, so we’re certifying more officials,” he said.

Azar says the association has made a deliberate push to remove the stigma that tennis is only accessible to a specific class or demographic.

“The good thing is, more and more people are playing tennis across the island at all different levels,” he said.

“Tennis Jamaica is an association that, many people may not know, if somebody turns up at the National Tennis Centre we provide racquets, we provide balls. If they’re unable to afford coaching, we provide coaching, so certainly the days of tennis being a sport where only certain people can participate in it [are no more].”

Tennis Jamaica President John Azar