Tennis players and fans in Nigeria can expect more good times as Lekki-based Tennis Management Company Limited plans to build on the recent success of its maiden Lagos Tennis Cup by hosting another major tournament in Abuja later in the year.
The Lagos Tennis Cup, which took place from June 09-13 at the preeminent tennis facility in Nigeria, the Lagos Lawn Tennis Club in Onikan, involved 16 of the best professional tennis players in the country. All participants qualified for the event after reaching the quarter-finals of the 2021 CBN Open tournament.
No.3 seeds Uche Oparaoji and Marylove Edward triumphed in the men and women’s categories respectively, carting home half a million naira each in prize money.
The tournament was the first installment of a brand new addition to the annual national tennis calendar by TMCL. To be known as the Nigerian Tennis Majors, the initiative will ensure top Nigerian players get four high stakes tournaments every year to serve both as inspiration for local talents to relentlessly develop their craft, and a measurement of their progress for everyone to see.
“Our vision is to create a platform that can assist in taking Nigerian tennis to the upper reaches of the global game over the next 20 years,” TMCL chairman Anire Kanyi told This Day. “It has taken us years to get to this stage, but we are happy the show is finally on the road. We had the best players in Nigeria slog it out here for five days and you can expect even better when they clash again in the Abuja Tennis Cup at the end of the year.”
Although TMCL plans to have four major tournaments every year, the company says it will start with just the Lagos and Abuja tournaments in the first few years. The Abuja tournament billed for the impressive tennis arena at the National Stadium will feature the top ranked 8 players in both the men and women’s categories.
“Our goal is to have a miniature of the global tennis Grand Slams in Nigeria, so we’re looking at four major tournaments annually that we’ll call the Nigerian Tennis Majors. We want to build carefully. We will start with only the Lagos and Abuja tournaments this year and in 2022, and subsequently we’ll explore tournaments in other cities keen to invest in what we are doing.” Kanyi explained.
“In time we will open a couple of the tournaments to international players, but for the first five years at least our focus will be solely on developing Nigerian talents. Tennis cannot sustain a huge local following unless Nigerians see our boys playing regularly internationally” the TMCL boss added.
Pix: Anire.jpg
