Nigeria’s players have departed the country and their respective bases for the Billie Jean King Cup event holding in Nairobi, Kenya.
The quartet of Oyinlomo Quadre, Adesuwa Osabuohien, Divine Nweke and Toyin Asogba will be representing Team Nigeria at the tournament.
Coach Rotimi Akinloye, the head of the Nigeria Tennis Federation (NTF) technical department, will be on the stands to instruct the players whom the federation confirmed for the competition.
Nigeria’s goal at the event will be to gain promotion to World Group II from the Africa Group III after being drawn against ten other countries.
Ahead of the tournament, Nigeria Tennis Live takes a look at the players who made the cut, in no particular order, and share a few details about them with our esteemed readers.
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Adesuwa Osabuohien
Ade Mama as the team captain is called is a very experienced member of the national female team and has featured in every single edition of the Billie Jean King Cup since Nigeria first participated in 2021.
Asides having the most appearance at the competition, she has played most matches and was responsible for Nigeria’s first ever tie when the players went to Lithuania for the first time ever.
She has also played in the last two editions of the African Games, helping Nigeria to bronze and silver medal wins at the quadrennial event.
The 29-year-old has a WTA ranking of 1321 and was recently in Madrid, Spain for a W15 tournament but could not reach the main draw despite putting up a spirited performance.
Her presence in Nigeria’s team to Kenya represents a huge boost for the players as her experience when the chips are down is mostly a catalyst for the younger players as she is also one of Nigeria’s most reliable players in the team events.
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Divine Nweke
Her second appearance at the Billie Jean King Cup event is most likely coming on the heels of her performance at the 2023 edition where she was very fierce in her matches.
Since her exit at the African Games where she won Doubles bronze for Nigeria, Divine has participated in more clay court tournaments where, even though she did not get to play in the main draw of the events, she has been consistent with her performances.
She packs power in her serve, and is very strong on the ball whenever she takes to the court against her opponents, and she is surely brave when she takes up opponents.
At the African Games in Ghana, Divine wowed the spectators inside the tennis section of the Borteyman Sports Complex, where the event took place.
Of all the Nigerian players participating at the Billie Jean King Cup event in Nairobi, Kenya, she has played most ITF tournaments and this sure looks like the year where she will shine like the star that she is.
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Oyinlomo Quadre
Arguably Nigeria’s most popular tennis player in the last decade, this 20-year-old is regarded as Nigeria’s best tennis player and she does not disappoint whenever she takes to the court.
Her record at the Billie Jean King Cup is so outstanding that despite not playing the competition more than twice, she has most wins for Nigeria at the tournament. She has most Singles wins, most Doubles wins and most total wins in the competition.
Even at the African Games a few months ago, despite playing with flu, Oyinlomo was Nigeria’s best player, and stood the best chance of all the players.
At the Florida International University (FIU) in the United States, she ended the tennis season as her school’s only ranked player at the NCAA, and was deservedly the school’s sole representative at the NCAA Women’s Tennis competition.
After her performance at the NCAA, she traveled to Dominican Republic to play a tournament ahead of the Billie Jean King Cup event and is expected to be in the best form in Nairobi.
Nigerians will be banking on the experience of this player in Kenya as the team will be coming up against sterner oppositions at the competition.
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Toyin Asogba
At the beginning of the year, nobody would have thought this player will be representing Nigeria at the Billie Jean King Cup tournament, but here we go.
Sometime in March, she left Nigeria for France to train and play tournaments at an academy. And in two months, she had played to the semis of about four of those and reached the two finals.
She is one of the players whose experience and expertise on the clay court will come to bear when they take to the courts for the Billie Jean King Cup tournament as it is mostly played on clay courts in Kenya.
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Before leaving Nigeria for France, Asogba was also one of the players invited to camp, to train with the others ahead of the African Games held in Ghana, but it was at that point that she was preparing for her trip to France.
Although she has not represented Nigeria before in any international championship, Nigerians can rest assured that this tough playing athlete brings a whole new dimension to the female national team.
Despite the huge task of ensuring Nigeria gains promotion from Group III, this set of players have proven that they have what it takes to make the country proud in Kenya.
Nigeria Tennis Live will keep tabs on the players’ activities and share all the updates with our esteemed readers scattered across the globe.