Javier Jimenez, winner of the first leg of the J30 Lagos Junior ITF event, has spoken about the level of Nigerian players at the competition.
The Spanish teenager was an unseeded player at the start of the event, but he reached the final, where he defeated Benjamin James, one of the competition’s surprise players, to win his first ever Junior ITF title.
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En route to winning the competition, the 16-year-old played against a Nigerian (or a player of Nigerian descent), in every round of the tournament, and he had his say about the Nigerian oppositions after winning his first title on clay.
“The level here is high, very high. The players here are very good, I never expected to meet this kind of opposition in Nigeria, so, yes, the victory was something I really fought for,” the youngster said in a brief chat with Nigeria Tennis Live.
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Speaking further, he explained that he hopes that he wins the second leg of the J30 Lagos event and win back-to-back competitions in Lagos.
“For the second week, I hope to win again because it will feel good to win back to back, but the level of competition is very high, so we will see,” he told our correspondent.
The J30 Lagos is the first ever clay court junior ITF tournament in the whole of West Africa, and is attracting players from over 10 countries across the globe.
Players from the USA, UK, Australia, Romania, Italy, Spain, Canada, India, Israel, Zimbabwe are in contention for valuable ITF points.
The second leg of the tournament serves off on Monday 10 November, 2025, and will end on Saturday, 15 November, onside the tennis section of the Lagos Country Club, Ikeja, Lagos.