Legendary Nigerian tennis player, Abdulmumin Babalola, will return as Nigeria’s number one player in spite of his men’s singles final loss at the 40th edition of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Senior Tennis Open Championship to youngster, Sylvester Emmanuel, over the weekend.
According to Nigerian Tennis Live findings, Babalola was – prior to the tournament – the number two player on the log with Joseph Imeh bossing the number one spot but his quarterfinal loss to Sylvester at the CBN Open almost guaranteed that he had fallen off the top spot.
The advancement of the Davis Cup captain to the semis and the eventual final, meant that he would top the rankings when they are released by the Nigeria Tennis Federation (NTF) in the coming days as the players recover from a busy week to prepare for the next championship.
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| The man fondly called Monaco is back as Nigeria’s number one player. |
Babalola, who is no stranger to being at the top of the log, will bank on his current form and his never say die attitude to have a stronghold on the number position, while other youngsters will strive to wrestle the position from him yet again.
Meanwhile, even though Sylvester’s CBN Open winning exploits will earn him some cool points, he may not be able to stake a claim for the number one spot just yet, as he was the number ten player with 55 points.
In the female cadre, Adegoke continues piling the points as she retained her status as Nigeria’s undisputable tennis queen at the moment, as she has won virtually every national tournament in the offing.
But it is yet to be seen for how long she will hold on to the top spot, especially if other female players peak and try to wrestle the number one status from her.
Nigerian Tennis Live will keep tabs on the NTF and publish the national rankings when they are released in the coming days.