Dearth Of Tennis Tourneys In Nigeria

The lull being experienced in the country by tennis players calls for serou

“When there are no tournaments, then you can’t say that you are a tennis player. Not just in tennis, but in other sports as well. The tournaments make the sport so you can imagine what happens without them”

Those were the comments of veteran Nigerian tennis player, Shehu Lawal on the unenviable state of tennis in the country-dearth of tournaments since the last one in May (the CBN Open)-as players keep groaning week in week out, hoping that there would be a turnaround someday.

The only way athletes can say with pride that they mastered their sport is for them to engage in competitions with others to test their might, win or lose they will at least know how good or imperfect they are. This will also enable the spectators know who the real champion is.

Nigeria’s revelation at last year’s Governor’s Cup, Kehinde Alade believes that the state of tennis in the country has come to stay and there may not be anything that can work out again.

The Lagos Lawn Tennis Club upstart however affirms that the players won’t stop practising because of their passion for the game as they don’t have any other sport to turn to after choosing tennis as their lives.

“It’s the same story all the time; no tournaments. For how long will that continue? Personally, I believe that the situation cannot change not because I don’t want it to but because we’ve been saying the same thing over and oveR again without getting anything from it.”

“We’ve been on the court since CBN Open ended in May and all we do is train and remain as fit as we can. The passion we have for the game is the reason we still come around” he said .

When the new board members were elected, there were series of promises made to ensure the sustenability of the sport which many pundits believe to be dead.

For a start, the Nigeria Tennis Federation, NTF organised a zonal championship which its President promised to take round all the zones in the country but like previous ‘debut’ championships, it is yet to move to other zones in the country.

The players’ representative on the board of the Federation, Shehu Lawal does not like what the players go through even as he states that his presence there may not necessarily change the fate of the players.

“When players don’t get to play tournaments, they get so weak and become match rusty. They could also lose their hunger for the game and this will eventually spell doom for the sport.”

Lawal further affirms that: “It is expected that my being on the board will help players get tournaments but I’m afraid there isn’t so much that I can do in that regard. My major task is to make sure players get to know about an upcoming tournament at least, a month before it commences. That is not to say that I won’t do all I can to ensure that the players’ welfare improves.”

As a coach who always tells his players how important training sessions are and encourages his players to attend regularly, Kayode Savage notes that without tournaments, the training sessions will look so ordinary and the players will not improve whatsoever.

Savage, who is the Assistant National coach of the wheelchair tennis team also enthuses that the players’ international rankings will suffer a major blow if they continue staying for lengthy periods without a tournament to participate in.

“Well for it is so unfortunate that the players train so hard but they will not witness any form of improvement because thay will feel there is nothing they are training for. And when they don’t participate in tournaments outside the country, they will remain static and their world rankings will start plummeting” the man fondly called KK offers.

Like her compatriots, Women’s Doubles winner at last this year’s CBN Open, Blessing Samuel, expresses sadness at the current ‘stagnancy’ which the sport is experiencing.

She doesn’t have so much problems with playing tournaments, though but she really wants that country’s tennis to grow as much as it can.

“I have been training really hard, playing tennis in the school since the CBN Open ended but it can never be like having a major tournament. We get idle without tournaments and eventually lose form when we keep training without a tournament to participate in.”

“Schools are even on strike now, so it’s pretty difficult to play as much as I used to but if there were enough tournaments, nobody will worry about that. NTF should help us with regular tournaments, that’s the only way we can improve” she says.

Just like every other member on the executive board, the acting secretary, Dano Garba promised that the Federation is working to get tournaments for the players and says that a tournament will be coming up soon.

Unfortunately, the tournament doesn’t have a date yet and like other ‘proposed’ tournaments in the past, may not see the light of the day but Garba refutes this.

He says: “I can assure you that we’ve been working tirelessly to get championships for the players and the goodnews here is that one is coming up soon though I don’t have a date for it yet.”

“It’s surely going to hold in Lagos and in Abuja and it will be an open championship, that I can also confirm. So, the players should be rest assured on this.”

For players who have always wanted to become the Federes, Djokovics, Nadals of this world, there may yet be light at the end of the tunnel but how long he light will give sight is what they will be waiting to see.

—Damilare Okunola