Launch of the ITF and IC Player Mentoring Programme

The IC Council is proud to announce the launch of the ITF and IC Player Mentoring Programme, in partnership with Give Learn. This unique initiative is designed to support players as they navigate the demands of professional tennis and plan for life beyond the game.

The programme will offer players on the ITF tours the opportunity to be matched with an experienced mentor from the worlds of finance, technology, entrepreneurship and beyond — someone who can offer guidance, perspective and a genuine connection outside of tennis.

Over the course of twelve months, participants will receive eight one-to-one sessions with their mentor alongside four group workshops covering topics such as building your personal brand on LinkedIn, starting a business while competing, financial planning, and preparing for a career after tennis.

Whether a player is thinking about their next chapter or simply wants to grow beyond the court, this programme could be for them.

Players can apply by logging in to the ITF website at itftennis.com using their IPIN. The deadline for 2026 applications is 30 June 2026.

For more information, contact player.care@itftennis.com

Become a programme mentor

Our global IC community is full of individuals who have built successful careers in a wide range of fields and may have valuable experience to offer participants on the ITF and IC Player Mentoring Programme as mentors.

In particular, we’d like to hear from IC members who have:

• Industry expertise — a recognised leader or specialist in their field with a track record that players can learn from and credibility that commands respect
• Genuine desire to give back — motivated by impact rather than profile, someone who sees mentoring as a privilege not a transaction
• Time availability — senior enough to be valuable, but not so stretched they can't show up consistently for a monthly session
• Cross-cultural awareness — comfortable working with young athletes from diverse backgrounds and nationalities, many of whom are navigating life outside their home country
• Commercial or entrepreneurial experience — able to help players think about life beyond sport, from brand building and investments to business foundations and financial literacy
• Emotional intelligence — understands the unique pressures of elite sport, can listen as well as advise, and knows the difference between coaching and mentoring.

If this sounds like you and you would like to be considered to become a programme mentor, please contact James Cluskey from Give Learn at j.cluskey@givelearn.net

Abe Segal

My Friend Abe. by Gordon Forbes.

Abe died in Cape Town on the night of 4th April 2016, with his devoted friend, Deborah Curtis Setchell, at his bedside.  Abe and I met 63 years ago in the locker-room of the Ellis Park tennis courts, when he came over to my corner and chided me for being too quiet.  ’Don’t they make noise on that farm of yours, Kid?’  I was 19 and he 22, and we have been friends and doubles partners ever since.  There’ll never be another Abe. They talk of breaking the mould, well, his mould was well and truly broken!  Such a good man.  Generous, forthright, strong, big-hearted, loyal, compassionate – a rough diamond, with the diamond part flawless, and the rough part filled with the unique kind of humour that made his friends laugh in amazement, while at the same time shaking their heads at the fun of it! 

 
Only a few weeks ago, on a still evening in Plettenberg Bay, we sat together, looking at the sea, yakking away, and sipping the whiskies that Tony Bloom had poured for us.  Lately, we’ve talked nearly every week, being able to say the same things more than once, because we both forgot what we said the week before.  Suddenly, though, this time, towards the end of the evening, he touched his glass to mine and said, ‘Cheers, Forbsey.  We’ve had a great time, but the game’s over.  Thanks for everything.’   Maybe he had some kind of premonition, for I know he wasn’t feeling well....  But he never complained.  In all the time I have known Abe, I have never, ever, heard him complain. Not once.  And he was thanking me!  I ask you!  It was I who should have....
 
He was a great tennis-player, was Abe.  Look at his results over the years, and one is fully amazed!   For a start, he had one of the best left-hand serves of all time – fine volleys, safe backhand and a huge forehand that sometimes went off at a tangent and ran amuck.  I still remember the time at Roland Garros when he hit a forehand into the President’s Box without a bounce.  It hit one of the officials in the chest, while the base-linesman triumphantly called “Out”!  Or the time, on the Wimbledon Centre Court, playing Rex Hartwig, when Rex tried to run around his serve to hit a forehand. The ball simply followed him, until he had to catch it with his left hand, in front of his chest.  Abe’s serve used to swerve like mad, especially the second one.  And what about the lineswoman at Wimbledon who had too much wine for lunch and was asleep when Abe, playing Clark Graebner, won the match-point?  ‘Clark’s game is kinda boring, Forbsey,’ he told me.  ‘So I guess she’s entitled to take a nap.’  Odd things happened to Abe almost continually – things that never failed to amuse the millions of people all over the world that loved him.
 
For instance, suddenly, aged sixty-nine, he became a painter, surprising everyone (including himself) when his paintings were exhibited at The Everard Read Gallery.  Even here, Abe was unorthodox.  Always impatient, he’d invented a way of turning his canvasses upside down, so as to do his skies without disturbing the still wet scenery below.  Although, in my speech, I warned the Read Gallery patrons that the skies on the paintings were all upside down, they bought every last one.   ‘A sky’s a sky, Forbsey,’ was Abe’s comment.  ‘I’ve never seen one with a lable sayin’ “this side up.”     
 
Thus Abie. I could go on and on, and I am sure that I speak also for his daughters, Nancy and Susie, his wonderful wife, Heather, who died some years ago, and his friend, companion and helpmate, Deborah.  I can’t believe I’ll never hear his voice again.  Never again have him walk across the court to my side, cup his hand and say,  ‘for God’s sake, Forbsey, can you please stop bein’ nervous, grip your racket and watch the friggin’ ball!’  A part of my life, and, I am sure, a good many other lives, will go with Abe.  We wish him a good rest, and salute him for a game well played, and a life well lived.