Baba Tunde Fashanu
The legal practitioner gave the advise at this year’s grand finale of a week long tennis tournament tagged ‘Alhaji Taslimat Alake Fashanu Tennis Classic’ organised by the Tennis section of the Lagos Country Club, Ikeja.
The sponsor of the annual event, Barrister Fashanu, a tennis player, said the tournament was put in place to discover young talented tennis players who
will go on to become great players like the American Williams sisters(Serena and Venus), and represent Nigeria in international tournaments.
He added the competition was originally meant for children but adults were later included two years ago.
“Tennis is dying in Nigeria because government is only focusing on football. Government should invest in tennis just as they are doing with football, and build infrastructures so that those interested in tennis especially younger ones can train themselves and be monitored to become international stars in the future. Right now, we have a 10year old girl nicknamed Serena because she is so good and we are monitoring her progress,” he urged.
He added that the tournament since its inception has discovered talented young Nigerian tennis players who are presently being trained in Spain in tennis under sponsorship.
He also encouraged corporate organisations to be part of the subsequent editions of the tournament through sponsorship and encouraged more women participations as this year’s tournament witnessed large turnout of women.