26th February, 2013
When Samuel Omoile began his foray into tennis about 12 years ago, not many people had any inclination about what the Nigerian tennis protégé would become. But today, the Edo-born player is one of the country’s upcoming stars.
With the Lagos Lawn Tennis Club, LLTC as an avenue where he watched the game played, Omoile developed keen interest in it.He usually followed his father to the club on a regular basis, a decision which would later earn him a place in the history book as the only player to win the Chevron Masters thrice in a row.
Recalling how it all began, Omoile said: “I used to go with my dad to the tennis club at the time and that was how I developed keen interest in the game. Though dad was always asking me not to get overtly involved, I had to create time for the sport because of the kind of passion I had and still have.”
Since he had his breakthrough, Omoile has never looked back. With determination and hard work, Omoile rose through the ranks and become the country’s number eight ranked tennis player; a spot which he currently occupies.
“I am the only player to have won the Junior Chevron Masters thrice in a row and currently, I’m ranked number eight in the country.
“All these have been down to determination and hardwork. I believe that with hardwork and determination, I can get whatever I set out to become,” he said.
Expectedly, Omoile had his father as his role model while trying to learn his trade, but he admits that the player he now looks up to for inspiration is Jonathan Igbinovia though he sees Roger Federer and Pete Sampras as his main role models in the game.
“While growing up, I had my dad as my role model since I was always going with him to the court. But my best Nigerian player of all time is Jonathan Igbinovia, while Pete Sampras and Roger Federer are the other role models that I have in the game,” he said.
Unlike most of his peers who often have problem of sponsorship, Omoile was lucky to have sponsors which gave him the golden opportunity to play championships within and outside the country. Such was his luck that he was snapped up by Chevron for being so consistent in the tournaments sponsored by the Petroleum producing company.
“I was being sponsored by Chevron for several years but I’m out of contract with the company now. I’ve not played any major tournament for a while now and that’s the problem of sponsorship in our sport.”
Omoile explained further that an average Nigerian tennis player has to go through the challenge of not having circuits to play.
“An average Nigerian tennis player is match rusty because he only trains without having any tournament to play. So many of the players have begun to dump the game for other endeavours of life because they don’t have much belief in the system again,” he lamented.
Omoile worked his way through every difficulty, played and won so many circuits within and outside the country such as the African Junior Championship, West African Features, among others but still rates the Governor’s Cup Lagos Tennis Championship as the toughest of them all.
According to him, “the Governor’s Cup has been the most challenging tournament I had played because of the top players that usually come to play in the ITF tourney. But the competition has greatly helped some of us develop into better players.”
Omoile, however, faced hard times when his dad died in 2010.. He explained how he was demoralised when his dad died and how much the incident affected his game.
“When I lost my dad in 2010, I was emotionally down because, apart from the fact that he was my father, he was also my mentor.”
So ambitious is Omoile that he dreams of being in the Top 200 in the world and also becoming the first African to win a Grand Slam title.
He also pledged his allegiance to Nigeria on the condition that things get better in the future as he did not rule out playing for another country with better playing conditions.“I want to be among the Top 200 players in the world and also the first African to win a Grand Slam title. I might play for another country if I am given a better option,” he said.
With sportsmen attracting women like bees to honey, Omoile doesn’t fancy the womenfolk as such as he heartily laughs while explaining that he doesn’t go after ladies.
“I don’t go after ladies at all,” he said. “I just don’t seem to have time for them because all I do is play tennis and when I’m not doing that, I’ll be in my house chilling.”
As a way of obeying what his late dad told him, Omoile still nurses the dream of going back to school to become a Computer Scientist.
“My dad used to tell me that I should go and study.So I’m hoping to gain admission into a tertiary institution to study Computer Science soon,” he said with a smile.
—Damilare Okunola