Her unassuming stature definitely doesn’t do justice to how much power her racket carries. But Rose Nana, a seven-year-old tennis prodigy knows what she wants and is ready to go for it.
When her father wanted her to get on the courts to start playing tennis barely two years ago, she was reluctant. But two years in, and the youngster already dreams big.
“I play tennis because I want to become a champion of the world like Serena Williams, Djokovic and Nadal,” the soft-spoken youngster began.
Nigeria Tennis Live caught up with Rose, her father and her coach (Kayode Savage) at the Tennis Section of the National Stadium in Surulere, Lagos recently, for a brief interview.
The fair-skinned youngster already exudes the confidence of a giant killer who’s ready to dominate the world of tennis, globally.
And while her sessions could be a difficult routine for youngsters her age, girl from Edo state has surely mastered the art and now lives it.
Whenever she gets on the court, she recalls her coach’s instructions which have since stuck.
She enthusiastically dished them out too, during the interview by the side of the Centre Court.
Rose said: “He’ll say I should do my two and three. Then, turn and do it again.”
“After, he will ask me to do my hand like this for the forehand like this and move to do my backhand like this to return the ball,” she added while demonstrating what she does on the court.
Like most people within her age group, young Rosie also enjoys noodles, but she’d rather do spaghetti although her mum says she has to eat more of yam and potatoes.
According to her: “Shey my best food? Spaghetti. I like indomie too and dodo, but spaghetti is my best food.
“But my mummy use to say I should eat yam and potatoes amd spaghetti, but me I like the spaghetti.”
And even though she is still in Basic one, she has already become a role model for her classmates as some of them are now interested in playing tennis.
“Some of them like to play ball, but when they see me playing, they want to play tennis too.
“Me I just want to play tennis like Serena Williams and become a champion of the world,” Rose affirmed.
She also mentioned her ambition of becoming a lawyer, but quickly added that all she wants to do is play tennis and win.
Armed with such champions and winning mentality already, with the right sponsorship and guide, Nigerians and the world may just have another superstar on the cards.