The tournament will feature eight men and women. Six will qualify based on the Nigerian Tennis Federation ranking list
Pius Ayinor
Top Nigerian senior tennis players excited about the impending debut of a year-end tournament are now scrambling to attend the last three tournaments of the year to qualify for the prestigious and lucrative ProvidusUnity Bank Tennis Masters. The tournament will feature eight men and women. Six will qualify based on the Nigerian Tennis Federation ranking list, while the International Tennis Academy, the tournament’s organizers, will choose the two wild cards to round out the field.
Daniel Adeleye, who was national No.1 in singles and doubles from 2024 to April 2026, is now ranked 14 because he spent more time trying to play ATP tournaments to get a world ranking.
“”i was not planning to play the Dala Hard court in Kano this year,” he told the Masters Tournament organizers, “but because of this ProvidusUnity Bank Masters, I have bought my ticket for Kano, and luckily we have the Destiny Da Silva tournament which will count for ranking before then. I will have to fight to qualify.” Adeleye said.
The ladies are not left out in the scramble. Bright Emmanuel, Favour Moses and Blessing Omotayo, who are ranked seventh, eighth and ninth respectively, said they have increased the intensity of their training to get into the top six.
Godwin Kienka, director of the International Tennis Academy, said one of the players being considered for a wild card is Seun Ogunsakin, who got to the semifinals of the junior Wimbledon event this year and won the ITF J200 tournament for 18s in Egypt in October.
With three tournaments – The Destiny Da Silva Championships, the Dala Hard Courts and the JIO Tennis Championships in Makurdi – coming up this last quarter, the ProvidusUnity Bank Masters will be a true end-of-year and holiday event to take place in Lagos from Tuesday, December 22 to Saturday, December 26
