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It
has been a shaky 12 months for tennis in Nigeria. While they was still a
dearth of tournaments to help players improve, the few tournaments that
were hosted turned into bright spots for foreigners as witnessed in the
two legs of the Governors Cup in Lagos. Nigeria hosted the African
junior championship in March on brand new courts in Abuja but the
performances of the players were not encouraging – it was all average.

The 33rd edition of
the Africa Junior Tennis Championships was hosted at the National
Stadium Abuja, between March 28 and April 12, and the Secretary General
of the Nigeria Tennis Federation (NTF), Ikana Mbora, said: “From just
six courts, we now have 20 standard courts. The ITF officials were very
surprised and wanted us to host the event in 2011 but we had to decline
because it clashes with the dates for the general elections.”

The championship
served off on March 29, and the Nigerian team was made up of 12 male and
seven female players. Three players came in from abroad to join the
team: Umoru Balami from South Africa, Onyeka Mbonu from Holland, and a
fresh face from London, 15-year-old Lolade Ogunbisan.

By hosting the
tournament, the Nigerian team was given a better chances to qualify for
the World Championship with the 13 wild card slots that were granted the
country but it did not pan out as planned. Mohammed Ubale, who worked
with the junior team in the preparation and the tournament itself, said
it was a good beginning and the sign of better things to come. The
coach’s thoughts were also confirmed by Mbora.

The good

The positive things
that tennis took out of the year, according to both men, include the
discovery of good junior players that are almost ready to replace the
older ones.

Another plus was the development of facilities in Ado-Ekiti and the Federal Capital, Abuja.

The choice of
Ado-Ekiti as the camp of the junior team came as a surprise to many but
Ubale said: “We went to Ado because of the facilities that were
available. They have four newly constructed courts and the State
Government gave the Nigeria Tennis Federation (NTF) N2 million to
prepare for the championship. I think that was enough incentive to go
there.”

Ubale is confident
about the future with the provision of the facilities, “In a time when
there is a tremendous decline in grassroots development, these
developments are good for the game as the provision of the
infrastructure is the first step to development.”

Ubale added that
players like Samuel Omoile, Umoru Balami and Nonso Maduekwe are ready to
step up to the senior level in the men category while 13-year old Sarah
Adegoke has just won a one month trial at the ITF academy in South
Africa.

“We also did well in
Abuja as Omoile got to the quarter final, which was the best
performance by a Nigerian player since 2003 when Candy Idoko got to the
finals,” Ubale said.

“We now have the
launch pad for another exciting set of tennis stars and in the next five
years, things will definitely get better in the senior level.”

The bad

America-based Sadiq
Abdullahi, who has spoken extensively on what tennis administrators need
to do to bring the game back to life, is still sad about the attitude
of administrators to developing the game in the country.

“My brother, my
recent thoughts as chronicled in the Nigerian press have been a critical
analysis of the past Nigerian tennis administrators, and many of them
are not happy with my pronouncements. I have been critical of the past
presidents (I mentioned names) because there is an urgent need to change
how we approach tennis development in Nigeria in today’s standards.”

Abdullahi has been
criticised in some quarters for maligning people in authority but the
tennis teacher is hopeful that the game can be revived.

“My tennis
colleagues in America and my new friends on facebook and elsewhere have
indicated to me their willingness and readiness to support a movement to
promote a long time program for tennis development in Nigeria.

“At first I
sincerely believed that the Nigerian Tennis Federation was on my side
and open-minded, accepting, and genuinely ready to participate in
growing the game at the grass-root level. I was totally wrong.

“The painful truth
is that a lot of us do not need the tennis federation for our survival,
but the tennis federation is a key actor and an important partnership in
the implementation and monitoring of a full-blown grass-root tennis
development plan in Nigeria.

“We will provide the
technical assistance. We will stay away from politics. We will mobilise
everyone including the “sports spiritual revival or reawakening” people
in the Lagos state area. Finally, I guess the tennis development at the
grass-root level will now be carried out without the endorsement and
the blessings of the Nigerian Tennis Federation. These are my thoughts.”

The excellent

Nadal slam Rafael
Nadal became the youngest man to win the career slam in 2010. Nadal
regained the French Open crown with an emotional win over Robin
Soderling at Roland Garros. Nadal then marched off to England to win a
second Wimbledon title and then won the U.S. Open for the first time,
beating Novak Djokovic in the final and in the process became the
youngest man to win a career slam.

Former world number
one, Serena Williams won the 2010 Australian Open and then claimed a
13th grand slam title at Wimbledon before treading on broken glass in a
Munich restaurant in July. In her absence, Denmark’s 20-year-old
Caroline Wozniacki ended the year as world number one even though she
failed to win any of the slam tournaments.

Belgian Kim Clijsters retained the U.S. Open title she won the
previous year months after returning to the Tour as a mother. Veteran
Italian player, Francesca Schiavone beat Samantha Stosur in the final to
become, at nearly 30, the first Italian woman to win a grand slam
singles title. Schiavone then completed a memorable year by helping
Italy to a third Fed Cup title in five years.