Liezel Huber tells CNN she disappointed that the popularity of tennis in South Africa has not increased. Born in Durban, Huber traveled to the United States at the age of 15 in order to improve her game. A perennial Top 5 doubles player, the 34-year-old Huber is now an U.S. citizen, as she married an American, Tony Huber, who is also her coach.
"In South Africa I don't think they are looking at it as a business. That's kind of what hurts the most," she said. "When Wes Moodie and I won Wimbledon doubles titles in 2005, I actually thought it would change tennis in South Africa. Nothing changed. Maybe there's more important things to spend money on, maybe tennis is not important. Maybe it's more important for the government to build schools. I'm not there so I'm not sure why tennis is not getting funding. But it shows."
Huber added that she has offered to train South African kids for free at the tennis ranch that she and Tony run in Texas, but is upset with the response from South Africa. "In four years we've had three kids over. We were there (South Africa) in March and did a clinic for kids—it was a big disappointment. We thought we might see the next [Wayne] Ferreira or [Amanda] Coetzer, but the talent wasn't there."