Governor’s Cup Tennis Rebranded, Now Lagos Open

SUNDAY AKINTOYE

Lagos Open International Tennis Championships was unveiled today 

In order to make the annual tournament more attractive, the organizers of the Governor’s Cup Lagos Tennis Championships have announced that the International Tennis Federation (ITF) sanctioned tournament has been rebranded and it would now be called Lagos Open International Tennis Championships as from this year.

Chairman Organizing Committee of the Local Organising Committee (LOC), Chief Pius Akinyelure who was represented by the vice chairman of the LOC, Engr Afolabi Salami at a world press conference held  in Lagos Tuesday, said the tournament has recorded tremendous achievements in the last eighteen years, saying that this year’s edition is a defining years for the premier international tennis tournament in Nigeria, the Governor’s Cup Lagos Tennis Open, and therefore for tennis in Nigeria.

He disclosed that the tournament has produced world tennis players in the last eighteen years saying that the organizers have started the process of capturing the tournament onto the world stage.

“I am happy to report that Governor’s Cup Lagos Tennis GCLT has attained manhood and I and my colleagues on the CWC have started the process of catapulting the tournament onto the world stage. We are moving the tournament up to the Challenger Circuit. A little step after this and we would be having the likes of Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic, the Williams sisters, Serena and Venus, Angela Keber and host of other coming to our shores to compete.

Akinyelure explained further that from 2020, the Futures Tour will no longer attract Association of Tennis Professional( ATP) ranking points saying that from 2020 professional men’s tennis will effectively begin at the Challenger level.

According to him, this is part of the International Tennis Federation (ITF) attempt to reduce the number of professional players from around 14,000 to approximately 750 men and 750 women.

Commenting further, Akinyelure said Men’s Futures would no more attractive to professional tennis players.. He said: “Our hands are tied so to say and we must move up to the Challenger Circuit.”

Speaking on the rebranding of the Governor’s Cup, Akinyelure said the transition comes with a lot of benefits especially in the caliber of players participating, advanced on and off court infrastructural upgrade and equipment, electronic score boards, tennis line technology, higher level tennis officials and officiating, training of local technical officials and ball boys.