The new ITF rankings recently released have shot up quite a number of Nigerian junior tennis players, after some beautiful performances on the circuit.
The Nigerian youngsters who were in blistering forms benefitted from the two week-long Junior ITF competition in Abuja, Nigeria’s Federal Capital to claim ranking points which aided their progress on the world log.
The most significant move came from Marylove Edwards, the Nigerian number one player, in the girls’ category. And for the boys, even though he dropped five spots, Wilson Igbinovia remained at the peak on the rankings.
Igbinovia presently ranks as 282 in the world, the highest he has reached since he began his tennis career, but the happiest boys should be Muhammad Abdulsalam – who rose almost 600 places to rank 1857 – and David Ekpenyong who rose 343 places to his highest ranking point of 1306 after back-to-back quarterfinal feat at the J5 in Abuja.
Michael Emmanuel (966) rose about 50 places and David Dawariye (1120) rose about 21 spots to rank among the top ten Nigerian junior tennis players on the junior tennis circuit.
In the girls’ category, Marylove leads the pack with her highest ranking spot ever, and Nigeria’s current highest female on the junior ITF circuit as she moved 19 places to stand at 323 in the world juniors.
Oiza Yakubu rose 86 places to now become the 100th player in the world while Rebecca Ekpenyong, like her brother, shot up the rankings significantly, to stand at 1408 in the world.
In the female category, Nene Yakubu was the biggest mover, as she flew 568 places, the highest by any of the girls, to become the world 1660th player in the world. She is just 660 places behind her sister on the log.
The Nigerian starlets will be grateful to the Nigeria Tennis Federation (NTF) for the consistent junior ITF competition being organized in the country, a development which has helped them garner junior ITF points without having to travel out of the country.
Nigeria Tennis Live will keep monitoring the players’ rankings as the year draws to an end and as the tennis season closes, and share their tennis developments with our teeming readers across the globe.