16th October, 2012
Winner of last year’s Men’s Singles final at the Lagos Governor’s Cup Tennis Championship, Kamil Capkovic of Slovakia has declared that he is in Nigeria with the aim of retaining the title he won last year.
The Slovak has spent most of his time on the Futures and Challenger circuits, where he has won several Futures titles. He was three-time winner of the Governor’s Cup. He won the first and second legs of the 2008 edition and the first leg of last year’s tournament. He has also played in the qualifiers of the Australian, French and Wimbledon Opens this year.
Capkovic, who had won a career prize money of $91,876 till date since 2004 expressed confidence that he would repeat these feats after playing in several tournaments around the world since the last time he was in the country.
He said: “I love this championship, that’s why I come here almost every year. I won it three years ago and I also did last year, hopefully I’ll win again this year.”
Capkovic also took time to hail the organisers of the International Tennis Federation, ITF approved circuit, sponsored by FCMB and Etisalat Nigeria, saying the Governor’s Cup is ranked best among other major championships he had participated in.
“The reason I like this championship in Nigeria is that the organisers are good and the circuit is like other major ones I’ve participated in, so I know what I’m saying,” he said.
“There are so many good players from all over the world, including your Nigerian players and this makes it quite difficult for one to just come in and defeat anybody.”
Capkovic is the number one seeded player for this year’s tourney.
—Damilare Okunola