The Hope Dealers: Tennis Is Bringing Ellis Park Back to Life!

Photo Credit: The Hope Dealers

A once-forgotten Joburg tennis precinct gets a second serve and becomes a beacon of hope in the inner-city.

Johannesburg, South Africa (26 August 2026) – The latest episode of The Hope Dealers visits Joburg’s historic Ellis Park Tennis Courts, where a more than 100-year-old sports precinct gets a fresh start that brings new hope and opportunity to its communities.

Alec Galanakis is a former teacher at Jeppe Boys. He is also a passionate tennis player and a member of the Johannesburg Tennis Exco. While commuting from Randburg to Jeppe each day, Alec regularly passed the Ellis Park Tennis Courts. The courts were once an important part of Joburg’s sporting history, but had become largely abandoned and underused.

When rumours surfaced that the City of Johannesburg might repurpose the land, Alec and a group of friends stepped in to try to protect the Ellis Park Tennis Courts. That is how the Joburg Tennis Grassroots Foundation was born, which now does incredible work in preserving and revitalising the old sports precinct.

The project is set up to meet a growing need. Around 35,000 school learners attend schools within a five-kilometre radius of the courts. Many have little or no access to sporting facilities. The foundation works hand in hand with them, inviting school children to make use of the precinct. This access to sport comes with coaching and a safe place to spend time after school.

The foundation thus creates employment opportunities for coaches who are trained and employed from surrounding communities in Yeoville, Hillbrow and Troyeville. Through the programme, they receive formal training and practical experience while working towards coaching qualifications.

The initiative launched in February last year and has grown quickly! Between 30 and 60 children now attend coaching sessions three times a week.

Alec says the foundation owes much of its success to its public supporters across the city.

“The generosity of the public has been amazing.” Tennis clubs across Jozi have backed the initiative. “They have offered tennis balls, rackets, and old clothing.” says Alec. “We have people that come as volunteers. We have schools that have come and bring their learners to coach with the kids in the afternoons.”

With more backing, the hope for Ellis Park Tennis Park is to grow into something even greater still.

The facility boasts 16 courts, many needing major refurbishment. They can be used for coaching and community programmes, but they aren’t in the condition needed to host major tournaments and league fixtures.

The dream, in the long run, is to restore all 16 courts to competition standard, welcome more inner-city schools into coaching programmes, create more jobs through coaching apprenticeships and bring regular leagues and tournaments back to Ellis Park.

Ultimately, the foundation wants to transform the historic precinct into a thriving community sports hub once again. That is what makes Alec’s story one that belongs on The Hope Dealers!

Mandy’s series is telling the stories of Joburgers choosing to change the narrative of their city by looking at what is broken, forgotten or neglected and doing something positive about it.

The Joburg Tennis Grassroots Foundation fought for the once-forgotten courts where dozens of school children now get to play. Young coaches are building careers on them, and communities are rallying around them to see a piece of Johannesburg’s sporting history get its fighting chance at a very exciting future.

You can support the foundation and its work here.

You can follow Mandy’s journey via her social media. Check out her Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn and X for more information.

The series will also be available on Primedia+, EWN and across Primedia and Mandy’s social media platforms. The audio interviews will also be released as podcasts and broadcast on The Midday Report.