TNVN plots Nigeria’s return to tennis summit with 10-year plan

Nigeria was once one of the best tennis-playing nations in the world. Although nobody from the country has won any of the Grand Slam titles, there was a time when Nigerian players were always in the equation when permutations of upcoming events were being made.

Then, especially in the 1970s up till the early 1990s, Nigeria had players like Nduka Odizor, David Imonitie, Tony Mmoh, and Sadiq Abdullahi, who not only brought glamour to the country’s game but was also good enough to compete successfully in the world circuit.

When Odizor, who was once ranked number 52nd in the world, eased off the challenges of Loic Courteau of France in the third round, seven-time Grand Slam winner John McEnroe’s doubles partner Peter Fleming of U.S. in the second round, and Guillermo Vilas of Argentina in the first round at the Wimbledon in 1983, many tennis watchers thought that at last, Nigeria had come to take its position in the comity of tennis playing nations. But that has not happened 40 years after.

Although Nigeria held its own in the Davis Cup, which is the tennis World Cup, up until the late 1990s, the country has not been able to fulfill its potential in the game that guarantees fame and fortune for its talented players.

As a matter of act, the country’s game has been on a downward spiral since the turn of the century such that it no longer features among elite African tennis-playing nations.

There have been efforts to revive the game in the recent past, but some of such efforts have not yielded the desired results. The introduction and/or revival of such competitions as the Ogbe Hard Court, Dala Hard Court, Governor’s Cup Lagos Tennis Championship, and the CBN Open Championship has only served to keep the game in the minds of its