NTF wants to host ITF J3 Tour tournaments

President of the Nigeria Tennis Federation (NTF), Ifedayo Akindoju, has declared his intention to host ITF World Tennis Tour J3 tournaments to accelerate players’ points earnings.

Akindoju said getting the nod to host the ITF World Tennis Tour J3 from next year would attract top and tougher players across the globe to expose their respective talents and skills to earn higher points to climb up the ITF ladder.

He expressed his delight at the successful completion of the J5 Abuja tournament at the Tennis Complex of MKO Abiola National Stadium, Abuja that featured two Nigeria-born players based in the United States of America (U.S) and Canada.

Players from nine countries, including the U.S., Great Britain, Germany, Israel, Sweden and Egypt participated in the tournament, which also drew participants from Ghana, Morocco and the Republic of South Africa, as well as Nigeria.

“The J5 is for U18 players and the points earned is not high enough to accelerate their climbing up to join the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP). But in J3 tournaments, the points earned is higher to quickly join the ATP,” Akindoju said.

He expressed delight at the participation of two Nigeria-born players from the U.S. and Canada, Chetanna Amadike (Canada) and Nwaozuzu from the U.S. The former won the second leg after defeating Mukhtar Andu from Germany in two straight sets 6-3, 6-3.

“We are going to ask the ITF for more tournaments to spread tennis to other parts of the country such as Lagos, Port Harcourt, Enugu, Ibadan, Benin City, Kano, Asaba and more other places to drum up the awareness in the junior cadre.

“All this while, it’s always been in Lagos and Abuja, and the request for more tournaments, if granted, we will spread it out to more states,” he said.