The nation’s capital Abuja will play host to two weeks of intense tennis action in November with the staging of the International Tennis Federation (ITF) approved J5 Abuja tournament for U18s.

The Nigeria Tennis Federation (NTF) had originally sought nine weeks of dedicated junior tournaments but were granted only two weeks by the ITF.

The J5 Abuja U18 tourney, the NTF says, is grassroots-focused and would aid the development of young domestic players and also serve to propagate and improve the adoption of the sport across the country.

The tournament will hold in two parts with the first phase taking place between 4-10 November and the second phase covering 11-17 November.

The NTF is also bidding for the establishment of a High-Performance Centre in the country which it believes will markedly improve Nigeria’s ability to produce world-class tennis players.