Checks by Nigerian Tennis Live have revealed that the Nigerian contingent presently preparing for the Davis Cup team tournament will participate actively in the fast approaching Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Senior Tennis Open.
The declaration of 21 June as the commencement date for the annual tournament had cast doubts on the participation of the Nigerian stars; Sylvester Emmanuel, Christian Paul and the current number one player, Joseph Imeh, but checks by our correspondent show that reverse is the case.
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| Abdulmumin Babalola will lead Team Nigeria to the Davis Cup tournament in Kenya, all things being equal. |
The players are scheduled to depart the shores of Nigeria for Kenya, where the clay court Davis Cup World Group III fixtures will take place from the 20-23 June, during which period, the preliminary stage of the CBN Open would still be ongoing in Nigeria.
The Main Draw of the CBN Open will likely kick off on Monday, 25 June and end on 30 June, and the players are expected to have returned to the country the weekend prior to this from their Kenya base.
With this, Imeh may stand a chance of winning the elusive CBN Open after losing to ageless Abdulmumin Babalola in two straight sets at the Singles final of the 2017 edition of the championship.
Confirming this to Nigerian Tennis Live also, was the president of the Nigeria Tennis Federation, Engr. Dayo Akindoju, who noted that the players’ participation in the CBN Open was never in doubt.
According to him: “The players will be playing at the CBN Open, they are all in the main draw. I don’t know where you saw that Christian will not be playing the tournament.
“We had all of these factored into the tournament’s preparation and all. So, all the guys going to Kenya are playing the CBN Open.”
Nigerian Tennis Live will keep doing a build up towards the tournament and report to our esteemed readers accordingly.