Nigeria’s Serena In The Making

Call her Serena Williams, she would wink at you and quickly correct you that she may share the same name with Serena, but their surname; Teluwo is the difference. This is the story of five year-old Serena Teluwo a promising tennis talent in the making.

In America the Williams sisters enliven tennis, especially with Serena, who seems to be more daring than her sister, Venus.

During their hey days in tennis, they dazzled teeming spectators with their stellar performances and fashion sense. Even when they started to fizzle out, their names still remain on the lips of tennis lovers and some have even made them their role models. One of such fans is this young Serena Teluwo.

Strong with the racquet, with precise ability to hit the ball hard (despite her age), a strong eye for victory are among the qualities that set Serena apart from her contempoaries. One would wonder ceaselessly why a basic one pupil would take sport so serious at such a tender age. Serena is focused and determined, and stated clearly that she’d make it to the podium someday as a great tennis player.

Unfazed by the challenges that come with playing tennis, one of which is having to train under the scorching sun and at times, having to go through rigorous exercises; Serena boasts a tremendous work rate and great assimilation.

She is definitely a star in the making and she made no little of her desire to achieve greatness with the way she took to tennis.

“I play tennis because I love the sport and it’s the only sport that I like. My father encouraged me to start playing tennis and since then, I’ve been enjoying the game” she began.

“I watch Nadal and Serena Williams; they are the only tennis stars I like to watch. I want to become a champion in every tournament that I play in.”

Serena Teluwo is destined for greatness and more cheering is the fact that she isn’t alone in her quest for success as her parents have been supportive.

Her mother believes that the sky will only be her daughter’s stepping stone when the time comes.

Mrs Teluwo said: “Over the years, I fell in love with tennis and never envisaged ever having a daughter who would like tennis this much. She is always watching tennis with me and always telling me that she would be a star.”

“Because of her keen interest in the game, her father and I decided to get her a tennis coach. Honestly, I never envisaged that she would be this good because it’s not even up to a year since she started coming here and the improvement has been tremendous.”

When asked if her daughter’s name had anything to do with American tennis star, Serena Williams, Mrs. Teluwo responded thus: “I just love the way Serena Williams plays and when I discovered that my child was a female, I told myself that I was going to christen her Serena without even knowing if she would like tennis or not.

“Coincidentally, anytime she watches the American Serena, she tells me that she wants to be like ‘big sister Serena’.”

Most parents would have preferred to have their children concentrate majorly on their academics but, Serena’s parents, the Teluwos see it in a different light.

“Serena knows that there’s time for everything. She goes to school daily which is a norm and comes to the stadium to train as well. If she grows up with that in her, definitely she’ll be used to combining education with sport,” she said.

From all indications, Teluwo has everything going on smoothly for her to make headway in the game of tennis, which athletes and prospective champions rarely get.

Another factor responsible for her steady rise is her coach, Kayode Savage, who happens to be the assistant coach of the national wheelchair tennis team.

K. K., as Savage is fondly called at the stadium, expressed joy at seeing this gifted player climb the ladder, while also stressing that it wasn’t easy training such a young lad.

Kayode maintained that Serena’s passion rather than the training was responsible for her upsurge.

“It was not easy when she was first brought here. Dishing out instructions to such a young girl was a rigorous exercise on its own, she did not make it difficult as time went on because she’s been very obedient and enthusiastic about playing tennis. I also created a platform where she’d always want to come back to the stadium.”

“She has shown great passion and that has helped to ease the work for me because I have not had any reason to forcefully ask her to do anything, that is what tennis is all about.”

“To make her become the world star that she is dreaming to be, we have to put our acts together in this country and ensure that our facilities are up to the very best in the world. I see Teluwo exploding on the world scene but if things are not put in place, we might just have succeeded in dimming a shining star” Savage concluded.

—Damilare Okunola