Ndanusa Thumbs Up Local Stars

The performance of Nigerian players at the 12th Governor’s Cup Lagos Tennis Open has been described as fantastic.

This was the submission of the President, Nigeria Tennis Federation, NTF, Engr. Sani Ndanusa who was at the Lagos Lawn Tennis Club, Onikan to watch the final of the first leg of the FCMB and Etisalat sponsored pro circuit.

Ndanusa said that the performance of each of the local players should be judged by the level of opposition and not by the outcome of the match.

“It’s funny at times when you guys (journalists) write ‘crash out’ as I’ve been reading in the newspapers since the tournament started. How can you say that a player who is not on ATP rankings crashed to a player in the top 400 in the world?

“One cannot get to this stage and you call that ‘crash’. Most of these foreign players have what I call individual sponsors; which our players don’t have. “After this tourney, most of these foreigners go for other circuits but for our players, this is the Governor’s Cup is the only one they have and to get any other championship of this standard, they have to travel outside the country,” Ndanusa said

The Vice-President of the Confederation of African Tennis, CAT, reassured players that the Port-Harcourt and Dala Hard Court Opens will still hold later this year as organisers have assured of security of lives and properties during the championship.

“I’ve spoken with the former Speaker of the Rivers State House of Assembly and he promised that the Port-Harcourt Open will be held to celebrate his 50th birthday anniversary so it’ll be bigger than ever. Also, the organisers of the Dala Hard Court Open have assured that they’ll pay serious attention to security of lives and properties when players arrive Kano for the championship later this year,” he added.

—Damilare Okunola