The Nigeria Tennis Federation (NTF) will be excited after seeing (first hand) the benefits of organizing the Junior ITF tournaments in Nigeria.
After the first week of the J30 Abuja tournament, the recently-released rankings by the ITF show that Nigerian players benefited immensely from the competition.
A number of Nigerian players improved rapidly on the rankings which was released on Monday afternoon, with a number of them also dropping places.
Nigeria’s number one male player on the Junior ITF ranking, Daniel Adeleye, dropped 29 places to sit 388 in the world junior rankings, but it was the J30 Abuja winner, Prosperity Okonkwo, alongside Lucky Danjuma and Henry Aina who impressed the most with their movement.
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Okonkwo deservedly moved 210 places to now rank 716 in the world, Danjuma, a semifinalist at the competition, moved 254 spots and now sit 2391 while Aina moved a whopping 818 places to stay as the world 2532 ranked player.
In the girls’ rankings, Ohunene Yakubu, buoyed by her stellar performance at the tournament, consolidated her spot as Nigeria’s highest ranked female junior tennis player on the ITF rankings.
In fact, she leapt to her highest ever Junior ITF ranking spot courtesy of the two straight sets win over Alisha Ndukwu to now rank 529 in the world.
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While Etoro Bassey would be definitely displeased by her drop in the rankings – 142 spots downwards – the likes of Success Ogunjobi and Toluwalashe Agunbiade will be over the moon to see their spots on the ITF rankings.
Ogunjobi moved 310 places to place 2021 in the world while Agunbiade is gradually catching up with her compatriots as she made a leap upwards 321 places to now rank 2195 in the world.
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The player who would be most thrilled by the rankings will be Bright Emmanuel. She moved from nowhere on the rankings to sit as number nine highest ranked Nigerian junior player on the ITF ranking.
The Apapa Navy Tennis Club player is currently ranked 2936 in the world, a feat she achieved by reaching the quarterfinal in her first ever ITF appearance.
With the J60 Abuja event serving off on Wednesday, 12 June, Nigerian players will be encouraged by these ranking spots and hope to go even further on the rankings after the tournament.
Nigeria Tennis Live will keep all our readers and followers updated on the developments from the junior ITF tournament as they unfold.