Nigeria’s number one male tennis player, Sylvester Emmanuel, has appealed to the Nigeria Tennis Federation (NTF) to ensure the players get a minimum of 12 National tournaments in a year.
The country can boast of only four national competitions at the moment. The CBN Open, Dala, Rainoil and Vemp competitions which the players participated in last year.
But with the ongoing lockdown arising from the coronavirus pandemic, they are not even guaranteed a national tournament in 2020.
In spite of this, however, the man popularly addressed as Major is asking the NTF to make multiple tournaments available to the players, as that’s the only way they can be fulfilled doing what they do.
He made this request during an Instagram Live session with Nigeria Tennis Live, where he also replied to questions by colleagues and coaches.
According to him, the ITF World Tour events which hold across five weeks in Nigeria annually, have not been of any use to the players since they’re not always benefiting from it in any way.
“But if we have like 12 national competitions in a year, everybody will successfully participate and make money,” the current national champion enthused.
He explained further, how tennis players in the country have been frustrated by their inability to leave their respective homes because of the pandemic.
“Mennn, the few players that I spoke with said they just want to play tennis, that they’re tired of staying at home.
“I can tell you that we miss tennis, many sis not believe it would be like this, but that’s the truth; we miss tennis and we want to get back.
“We want to play!” the former Barcelona- based tennis star explained.
Nigeria Tennis Live will update our readers with the other parts of this mind blowing interview with the Nigerian star.