Nigerian Tennis In Shambles

With Nigeria’s level of exposure and the caliber of stars the sport has produced over the years, it is quite worrisome that the tennis in the country has been left in rubbles.

There is no doubt that Nigeria has produced great players who had really done the country proud in their chosen career. Players such as Patrick Obi, Lawrence Awopegba, Thompsn Onibokun, Yemi Allen, Kehinde Ayayi, Robinson Odoko, Femi David, Olayiwola Ogunrinde, Segun Balogun, Bullus Hussaini, Nduka Odizor, David Imonitie,  Alex Akah, Godwin Wowo, Solomon Ona, Gabriel Odudu, Remi Osho and Romanus Nwazu.

Others were Friday Otabor, late Joseph Ijeh, William Ogene, Phillip Nwajie, Philip Okpopo, Ashimiu Oba, Godwin Emeh and Muri Ajibade.

Without doubt, the body in charge of the sport, Nigeria Tennis Federation, NTF, has over the years, worked assiduously to improve the lot of Nigerian players and the sport in general but its best does not seem to be good enough as Nigeria’s top player, Destiny Ford Da-Silva explained.

The vastly travelled Da-Silva believes that NTF is in shambles and that’s readily explains the stagnancy which the sport has witnessed in recent years.

“Our sport is where it is today because of the federation we have in place. The officials are disorganised which explains why we are backward. Until they put their house in order, sponsors will continue to run away from our sport,” the Davis Cup player said.

Da Silva further maintained that the major reason sponsors have deserted tennis is the fact that they don’t get value for their money despite their heavy investment.

He said: “We’re saying that there are no sponsors, who will sponsor a sport which will not yield value for money put into it? Not even with the nation’s economy where everybody is managing to get on his feet will somebody dole out a huge amount of money for something that isn’t rewarding.”

Just at a time when players were expecting to play their first tournament of the year, the annual Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, Open early this month, they were met with further disappointment of uncertainty of the date the tourney will be played.

In her own reaction, Nigeria’s number three female player, Christie Agugbom regretted that tennis has fallen to all time low in recent years.

Agugbom believes that the federation is also responsible for the woes bedeviling the sport in the country.

“For me, the dwindling fortune of tennis is caused by the federation. Or how do you want me to explain a situation when we have not played a single tournament in the country this year? I only wish that things change. This sport cannot grow if things continue like this,” she queried.

So bad is the state of tennis in the country that a junior player, Martins Abamu, said that he won’t mind switching nationality if the opportunity comes his way.

“If I have the opportunity to play for another country, I will because nothing is happening in Nigerian tennis,” he said.

To Abdullahi, a former player who is based in America, the solution to the problem while speaking in a recent interview in Punch is “for Sani Ndanusa, the president of the federation should resign. The sports minister, Bolaji Abdullahi, should revamp the NTF and create an Office of Sports Development and Accountability. This office will be part of the minister’s office and the staff will report to the minister. Most of the initiatives that Abdullahi has announced such as the open National Sports Festival should be handled by this office.

If most of the players have not seen anything positive in the sport, one of the officials, Rotimi Akinloye, national coach, believes so much in what NTF is doing to ensure sustenance of the sport.

Akinloye acknowledged the dearth of tournaments, but doesn’t agree that the sport is poorly managed. Instead, he sees a bright future. He noted that the sport will bounce back from its sordid state.

He said: “I quite disagree with you on the issue of poor development of the sport in the country. The federation has been going through a lot to get sponsors for the sport. This shows that the officials know how important playing tournaments is important for the players.”

“What I foresee is a crop of future world-class talents in the present junior players. There is a future full of opportunities for the sport, this will also attract sponsors,” the non-playing Davis Cup captain said.

If the sport in the country must be revived, then the NTF has a great role to play.

This is a notion which the players would take with a pinch of salt as they don’t believe that anything good can come out of the federation.

But the secretary general of the federation, Nkana Mbora would take none of that. She furiously stated that the federation has done more than necessary to put the players on the right footing, but some of them are responsible for their ill lucks.

Mbora claimed that she always tell the players to identify any sponsor who could help them out as the federation would work out other modalities to seal the sponsorship for such players. This she said has met a brick wall on each occasion.

“I hate to hear that the federation is to be blame for the dearth of tournaments in this country. Before we came on board, there were about four major tournaments throughout the year and we’ve been trying to maintain that.”

“Just a few years ago, some players were sponsored by the CBN to attend academies abroad at the end of the day, the players failed to bring reports back to the federation for onward delivery to the apex bank. A player brought a particular evidence of a place he visited, but we were told by the ITF that there wasn’t any such academy.

How do you expect an organisation to commit its money on player like this,” she said.

“I was once a basketball player and I know what it means to be a player so they should stop blaming the federation and the officials.”

Tennis is an elite sport and should be given such prominence but this may not be possible without a joint effort by the actors and the administrators of the sport in the country.

—Damilare Okunola