After a near flawless start to his 2024 tennis campaign, Tunisia-based Seun Ogunsakin is fast drawing comparisons to legendary Abdulmumuni Babalola.
The Ekiti-born tennis youngster has been nothing short of prolific all year, and was rather emphatic with how he dealt with the first half of the year.
His stats for the tennis season are wild, but not unexpected for the 15-year-old who was Africa’s undisputed number one U-14 player before he moved up the cadre.
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Ogunsakin, known for his ferocious and deadly forehand reminds tennis players of the legendary and unyielding lefthand of Babalola, one of Nigeria’s most decorated players.
In 2024 alone, and we are still in July, the youngster has appeared in five different Junior ITF finals and has won all five events convincingly.
He started with the two legs of J30 events in Abuja, where he defeated Daniel Adeleye, the number one ranked Nigerian on the Junior ITF before outlasting Prosperity Ikenna Okonkwo, in the second leg.
After that competition in Abuja, he returned to Tunisia, where is continuing his tennis development at the ITF High Performance Centre, and reached three other Junior ITF finals and won them all.
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Coincidentally, the youngster was under the tutelage of the iconic Babalola when he was playing the African Junior Championships when he was just starting out.
And at that particular tournament, one could see how easily Babalola could transmit his energy ad expertise to the youngster who was in tears at some point during the competition.
Even though his dream is to meet Rafa Nadal, Ogunsakin’s seeming comparison to Babalola is a huge compliment to the youngster as he keeps up with his tennis progress.
Babalola holds the record for the Nigerian with most appearances and most total wins at the Davis Cup event, and is one of the most famous Nigerian tennis players of his generation.
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And with the current form and level of consistency of the teenage sensation, it may not be too long before we start seeing the potentials that he wields in his powerful forehand and all round play.
Maybe he is not as deadly as Babalola as of now, but slowly and surely, Ogunsakin looks like a regen of the legendary Nigerian tennis player.