NAN-S-9
Tennis
By Franklin Ohaegbu
Lagos, Oct. 19, 2016 (NAN) Top male seeded at the ongoing Governor’s Cup Lagos Tennis tournament, Spain’s Enrique Lopez-Perez, says Nigerian players don’t excel because they fail to interact with their foreign counterparts.
Lopez- Perez made the assertion in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Wednesday in Lagos at the 16th edition of the competion at Lawn Tennis Club, Onikan.
Lopez-Perez, the winner of the first leg, said that most of the time, Nigerian players tended to train with themselves and did not mix with the foreigners.
“The locals here have a good game going for them. They can play well but most of them don’t mix with us.
“I think it is not a good thing for them because no man is an island.
“You cannot learn new tricks with people you see and train everyday with, they can learn from us and we also can learn from their experiences.
“I try to mix with them most times and learn a thing or two but I have noticed that most of them keep to themselves.
“Let me tell you my secret, I win in most tournaments I attend because I try to interact with everybody, because I know I will learn something new in life and, most especially in tennis.
“Exposure is one major problem here, they don’t go for international competitions and the only one they get to have they are not utilising it to the fullest,’’ he said.
NAN reports that players at the competition came from 39 countries of the world and are fighting for ranking points and 50, 000 dollars prize money in the men and women’s events.
The grand finale of the second leg will hold on Oct. 22 and the Governor of Lagos State, Mr Ambode Akinwunmi will be present. (NAN)
FOE/ENN/PDE
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(Edited by Edwin Nwachukwu/Peter Ejiofor)