You still find time to play tennis with friends at the National Stadium in Surulere despite your tight schedule?
It was a good one for me and it helps me to keep fit. It also enables me to meet friends, interact with people more and takes some stress off me. I’m a member of a Tennis Club here. After games, we used to discuss about many things including the development of tennis in Nigeria.
For how long have you been playing tennis?
I’ve been coming here for about nine to 11 months now and my interest in the game grows by the day. Last December, I was given the award of the most improved player of the club.
Why did you take to tennis and not golf or some other sports?
Why not tennis, that’s the question I think I should be asking you too. At my age now, I’m not playing tennis for any tournament but to keep fit and also to catch some fun. I also like the game because tennis affords me the opportunity to play a game, which keeps me in an open environment where I can interact.
You are probably playing tennis because you were scared of injury?
Not at all! If you are not very careful, you can suffer an injury in the course of playing tennis as well. I was told that apart from Squash, there isn’t any other sport that moves you around like tennis. It’s a game that helps in relieving social tensions.
For how long have you been following tennis in Nigeria?
I’ve been following Nigerian tennis since the days of Nduka Odizor and the other players. It is unfortunate that our tennis players have been frustrated today because there is dearth of tournaments and other constraint that deprive them of the opportunity to play their choiced sport to the best of their ability.
What do you think is the solution to these problems?
We have to go back to the basics. We should start from the primary schools. Let these children start early, let’s see tennis, volleyball and table tennis courts in the primary schools. Let us catch these future champions young. The idea of trying to get an Olympic champion within six months isn’t workable. The corporate bodies, state and federal governments should endeavour to sponsor tourneys for these players. I commend the CBN and the NNPC for what they have been doing, but we still need more. There are many Djokovics, Federers and Serenas in Nigeria if we can look inwards to discover them.
Which other sports did you played?
I played basketball when I was in the technical school in Aba and also represented my school then. I wasn’t good in athletics so I opted for basketball.
Would you support any of your children who chooses tennis as a career?
Let me tell you, there are only two industries that can make you shake hands with the most powerful men in the world; sport and education and by extension entertainment. If you are the best sportsman like Usain Bolt, you will have the opportunity to shake hands with President Barack Obama and have lunch with him. So, I will do anything within my power to support my children to play tennis and other sports. My first child is 12 and she plays tennis. The last boy is four and he’s already playing tennis as well. You might think he’s still very young, but I can assure you that in the next ten years, when he’ll be 14, if God spares my life, he could be the next Djokovic of this country.
You became the club’s number one recently, how did you attain the feat?
It’s not a matter of what actually happened, I’m the club’s number one and that’s it. How it happened is what I’ll keep close to my heart for now, but if you go to the club’s chart and check, you’ll see Kanayo O. Kanayo (MFR) as the number one so I’m the number one.
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