Canadian tennis player, Eric Vehovec, has declared that Nigerian players are the strongest and the best on African continent.
Vehovec, 22, said that he has travelled to several other African countries and played against strong players, but having watched and played against a Nigerian player at the ongoing Governor’s Cup Lagos Tennis Championship, he can say that Nigerian players are good.
The physically challenged Political Science and Economics graduate, who was ousted by Nigeria’s Christian Paul in the first round first leg of the International Tennis Federation, ITF, approved pro-circuit, believes that the country’s players have great potentials that can make them equal their foreign counterparts.
He said: “I’ve been to a couple of African nations to play ITF Futures like the Governor’s Cup, but from what I’ve seen here, the strongest players on the continent live in Nigeria.
“If they are properly trained and their potentials properly harnessed, I see them doing very well wherever they go because they are very talented”.
Vehovec lost to Nigeria’s Christian Paul,6-3,2-6,1-6 in the first round of the first leg but refused to blame it on his partial disability.
“I lost my first round match and that’s it. It was not down to whether I’m physically challenged or not, it was because I just got tired after winning the first set,” he said.
—Damilare Okunola
