Arthur Ashe: How the former Australian Open champion impacted Nigerian tennis

Ashe had been pivotal to the WCT’s decision to take the event to Lagos in the first place; he had previously visited Nigeria in 1970 with fellow American tennis star Stan Smith as part of a US State Department goodwill tour.

Despite the way it ended, the president of Nigeria’s Tennis Federation, Ifedayo Akindoju, thinks the impact of Ashe’s visit cannot be underestimated.

“Arthur Ashe brought two things: he came to Nigeria to play tennis and gave confidence to Nigerians that they can equally excel in this game,” he said.

“We didn’t have to travel to the US, we didn’t have to travel to the UK – tennis was right here under our nose in Lagos. We saw the same game being played with the same racket we hold.

“Secondly, not too long after, we had a lot of Nigerians – up to the early 1980s – that went even as far as playing in the Grand Slams.”

Nigeria has never had a Grand Slam champion but Kienka says Ashe’s memorable visit did bring national success.

“The young boys who were ball boys and officials at the tournament are still talking about it to today,” said the ITA director.

“Many of them became national champions in the country. The inspiration came from the visit of Arthur Ashe.”

Indeed, Kienka thinks it ultimately led to a “golden age” of Nigerian tennis.

“The impact still lives on, the legacy is enormous,” he claimed.

“It’s the same as when you have Messi, or Ronaldo, or Mbappe coming to Nigeria and playing football with children in schools.

“What impact they have on their sports career cannot be quantified. And that’s actually what happened.”