Seeking their first medal since 2017, Tennis Malaysia (TM) are looking to send the national squad to Turkey to prepare them for the Vietnam Sea Games in May.
TM secretary Kamaruzzaman Kedah said Turkey is the preferred destination largely due to the convenience it offers the squad.
He also confirmed that Abdul Hazli Zainuddin, who was appointed as national head coach last year, has been retained for this season.
"In the past we had sent the squad to train and compete in Cairo but this time we are looking at Turkey due to a number of reasons," said Kamaruzzaman.
"First of all there are no quarantine requirements for people who have completed two doses of vaccination.
"The second is that there are tournaments being held there almost every week, so the players will have a lot of chances to compete.
"This is important as our players need to collect as many points as possible to improve their rankings.
"This will help them get seeded higher in Vietnam and subsequently improve our chances of winning a medal (by getting a better draw).
"We are looking to finalise the five men's and five women's players for the squad by the end of February after the opening rounds of the national circuit and they will leave for Turkey after that."
Among the contenders for the men's squad include Koay Hao Sheng, Imran Daniel Abdul Hazli, Darrshan Suresh, Mitsuki Leong and doubles specialist Syed Agil Syed Naguib.
While government funding cuts across the board have put many associations in a bind, being self sufficient is nothing new to TM.
"The recent budget cuts have not really affected us because we were not part of the (National Sports Council) programme last year," said Kamaruzzaman.
"We will be competing in the Sea Games under category B and are conducting our own programme. We have allocated roughly RM300,000 to prepare the team and compete in Vietnam.
"Although NSC and the Olympic Council of Malaysia provide us some funding (annually), the majority of our funds are sourced from sponsorships and we are continuously looking to secure new sponsors."
Athletes competing under category B must fork out their own expenses to compete. However, they will be reimbursed by NSC if they are able to win medals.
Malaysia did not win any medals in tennis at the 2019 Philippines Sea Games where only the individual and doubles events were held. The team events are set to make a comeback in Vietnam this year.
Malaysia had won bronze at the 2017 Kuala Lumpur Sea Games through women's doubles pair S.Theviya-Jawairiah Noordin and two bronze at the 2015 Singapore Sea Games through the men's and women's team events.