By John Egbokhan

“If somebody comes to us to say he wants to sponsor an ATP tournament and NTF cannot package it with the ATP or ITF, then the NTF has failed. But if Nigerian players fail in competitions other than the Davis Cup, then it is wrong for someone to say we have failed’’.

With these words, the President of the Nigeria Tennis Federation (TF), Sani Ndanusa, fired back to defend the body, following stinging attacks by a leading tennis authority and former official of the Association of Tennis Professional (ATP) Tour, Chief Ben Ezeibe that the federation was organising tournaments that add no professional value to players.

Engr Sani Ndanusa

Mdanusa, while speaking with  Saturday Vanguard Sports,  said the federation was doing its best to add value to players’ careers through the organisation of national and international tournaments.

The former Minister of Sports said the TF was about the only federation in the country who have competitions every.

“We have the much we can do within our role and capacity. I don’t supervise players training. We give coaches opportunities to train. I am not saying the players have failed, nobody is a failure. You can pick up from any point. It boils down to determination. If we do a comparative test with other counterpart federations, it will be seen that we are not doing badly.

“Within the 30 federations that we have in the country, tennis will fall within the top five bracket, in terms of presence, penetration and reaching out. Instead of blame game, let’s chart a way forward now that we have NCC. We should support them because this league has been my life-long dream.

“If somebody comes today to us and says he wants to sponsor as ATP tournament and NTF cannot package it with the ATP or ITF, then the NTF has failed. Or you go to a tournament abroad and they say they don’t know Nigeria, then we have failed’’, added the former President of the Nigeria Olympic Committee.

NO NIGERIAN IN TOP 1000
With no Nigerian player listed in the world’s top 1000, concerns are mounting that Nigerian players will soon fizzle into irrelevance.
Asked if he was perturbed, Ndanusa said ‘’I am not worried because the road to be in the top 1000 has been provided to us and players should not think that it is the NTF that will carry them into the top 1000. It is their determination that will take them there. NTF is not going to get a coach for these players. They have to get their coaches/ If a coach wants to produce a Grand Slams player, he can produce if he knows what to do’’.

Dwindling international tournaments.
He said that it is to the credit of the NTF that the country has two international tournaments.
‘’We have two international point-awarding tournaments in Nigeria. We have the Lagos Governor’s Cup, which is two weeks and Tombrin in Abuja, which is one week. It took place this year and is going to hold next year. We have provided the enabling environment for Nigeria to host any international tournament. We are in very good terms with the International Tennis Federation, ATP and all the top stakeholders of tennis in the world’’.

UNEASY LIES THE HEAD THAT WEARS THE CROWN
“It is very easy to blame the NTF when players are not doing well. They say uneasy is the head that wears the crown but I know the part that I am wearing. I am not wearing the part of players, I am not wearing the part of even the umpires. I am a sanctioning and organising body. There is no tournament that we set out to host that we would not get all the approvals to host. The current Governor’s Cup was tidied up in record time. When players see our tournaments in any part of the world, they will come immediately. Players should learn to plan because it is their game and not mine. It is their profession. They must decide what they want. If you want to go to the top, you must be disciplined and get the right coach. These are the factors you need. We are doing our own, so what else are we supposed to do?

PLAYERS MISSING BIG BUCKS
“It is a business. The players who make money from tennis don’t return the money to their local federations. It is theirs. The foreign players come here to prepare themselves for the next level while we refuse to prepare ourselves. We have more competitions than other federations that we have on ground here.’’

ADDING VALUE TO PLAYERS
“As a professional, both are important. You graduate from national to continental and then to international. You do the African circuits after finishing the national circuit. It is a road-map, which requires money and NTF does not need to give you the money.
We advise sponsors to help our players. It is from the national tournaments that players will get into the African circuit. You can’t jump the gun. Sylvester Emmanuel is a product of a good national system. There is no free-way there’’.

STOP THE BLAME GAME
“We should stop the blame game. Is it Ndanusa that is killing tennis? What is there that I have killed? Is the NTF not providing enough tournaments? Half of Nigerian players could not play in Governor’s Cup because they don’t have IPIN number. It costs $60 per year to get an IPIN. Is it Ndanusa that will buy it for the players? If the players are not doing well, it is the coach they should meet. I am a volunteer in this game. Have you seen where the President is given a prize?’’, Ndanusa asked rhetorically.