Nigeria’s Seun Ogunsakin may have played himself into a Grand Slam spot following the new rankings released by the International Tennis Federation (ITF).
Ogunsakin ended 2025 as one of the hottest prospects from Africa, even though he failed to break into the top 100 in the world junior rankings, however, in the newly released rankings by the ITF, the Ekiti-born teenage tennis player may have swung himself upwards even more.
Nigeria Tennis Live checks revealed that the Nigerian number one player on the junior ITF rankings moved 66 spots to now sit at 80 in the world, a feat no Nigerian player has been able to achieve recently.
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The teenage tennis sensation may have also qualified for the Main Draw of the French Open having narrowly missed out on the chance to play at the Australian Open juniors.
Nigeria Tennis Live gathered that the Aussie Open juniors are mostly a 64-draw event with players in the top 100 mostly dominating the main draw of the event.
And when our correspondent checked the ITF website for the acceptance list for the Australian Open junior event, Ogunsakin’s name was not in the Main Draw, neither was it in the Qualifying list nor was it in the Alternates/Withdrawals – an indication that he probably never entered the event.
Despite this, however, hopes are high that the youngster will be participating in the Junior French Open which has been scheduled for May, 2026, especially if he continues with his rich form on the tennis circuit in 2026.
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Ogunsakin’s participation in a Grand Slam event, in any capacity will surely become the talk of the town on the tennis corridors as no Nigerian player has come close to achieving this since the days of Nduka Odizor and Godwin Emeh.
Recall, also, that Ogunsakin got a wild card to participate at the 2023 junior Wimbledon after emerging as Africa’s number one U-14 player, but could not make it to the United Kingdom at the time.
Nigerians will be looking forward to the prospect of watching a home grown talent compete on the biggest stage of tennis in the world.
Nigeria Tennis Live will keep tabs on the Nigerian youngster in the coming months and report all the latest development to our esteemed audience.