Experts bemoan state of Nigerian tennis
By Nike Iganda
FOR a country that has produced great tennis players like Nduka Odizor, Thomas Onibokun, Rolake Olagbemi and a host of others with intimidating credentials, the performances of Nigerian players at the just concluded Governor's Cup and Heineken Open leaves a sour taste in the mouth.
Virtually all Nigerian players failed to advance beyond the early stage. Save for Jonathan Igbinovia and Shehu Lawal, the performance of the other players, especially the female players never rose above the word average. Players from other parts of the world won all the titles.
Tennis' supporters, therefore, want urgent action before the game collapsed.
For Rotimi Akinloye, coach, Nigeria Tennis Federation, the performance of the country's players was owing to lack of international exposure to compete with players from the western world.
Akinloye said most of them hardly travel out of the country and it was difficult to be good at a sport without playing against people from other countries and getting the needed exposure.
Said Akinloye: "No Tennis player could excel without travelling out of this country to compete with other players. When a player travels, he gets more exposed, knows more about the game, get experiences and comes back home to shine.
"It's not as if our players don't want to be the best but the facts remains that there are no sponsors to support them.
"This is where the issue of sponsorship comes in. There ought to be a list of sponsors for a player. The players have the skills, but there are no support from anywhere, especially the corporate bodies who one will expect to support them."
Some tennis commentators, however, praised the players and their performance, especially getting to the quarter-final or semi-final before they crashed out to foreigners who were better equipped, have many sponsors, including the support of home governments.
A critical examination of Nigerian players showed that the male players were more serious and focussed than their female counterparts.
According to a female coach: "If truth is to be told, Nigeria players, especially the females, don't seem to be very serious with the game and that was why most of them crashed out in the first round.
"Critically looking at the situation in the Lagos Lawn Tennis Club, it was obvious that the female foreign players are more serious and business like. Most of them were seen training with the little time they had before going on court, while the reverse was the case for Nigeria female players as they were seen roaming about the club or chatting away.
"The players, especially the females don't seem to help themselves as they hardly train, compare to their counterparts who made use of every opportunity to train.
"Despite the fact that sponsorship is needed, the Nigerian female players too should show an urge to be like Serena and Venus Williams.
"They can do it and at least show an atom of more seriousness and stop attributing their failures to lack of sponsorship and exposure."
Continued, the coach said: "Unlike the females, the male players were more composed during the events. They tried their best and the likes of Jonathan Igbinovia and Shehu Lawal should be given kudos."
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