With the end of the 2015 Tennis season, we at Newfanzone.com take a look at what happened during the course of the year in Nigeria, and also at the ATP and WTA levels.
NIGERIA
![Egypt’s Omar Assar and Nigeria’s Aruna Quadri during the presentation for the men’s singles final won by the Egyptian at the ITTF World Tour, Lagos Open at the Molade Okoya-Thomas Hall of Teslim Balogun Stadium at the weekend](https://finixsports.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/mg_3089-e1426691425665.jpg?w=474&h=316)
Unlike the amazing year we had in 2014 when it comes to Table Tennis, this year performance from our athletes was a bit below expectation.
In the Month of March, we had the ITTF World Tour (Lagos Open) at the Molade Okoya Thomas Hall where big names on the Continent such as Omar Assar, Dina Meshref, Aruna Quadri, Ojo Onaolapo, Funke Oshonaike, Shagdy Magdy, Offiong Edem, and also Portuguese Stars such as Jieni Shao, Andre & Diogo Silva participated in the tournament. It was quite a poor outing for team Nigeria, where our only win came from the Men’s double final courtesy Aruna Quadri and Makanjuola Kazeem. The Lagos Open also showed that the future of Nigeria Table Tennis is promising if our administrators manage the crop of young players in the ranks such as Hassan Nurudeen, Muibat Bello & Ayobami Animashaun.
![Victorious Nigerian Men's Table Tennis Team at the AAG](https://finixsports.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/nigeriawin1-e1442208968749.jpg?w=474&h=315)
The All African games also showed that apart from Egypt, Congo has also grown as a real threat and are ready to challenge Nigeria come 2016 when it comes to playing tennis on the table with the likes of Wang Jinan, Yuheng Li & Han Xing.
Team Nigeria had a fairly good showing at the AAG, winning the men’s team event and other medals.
In Lawn tennis, we saw the return of the Governor’s cup in which 38 countries participated in. The farthest Nigeria could go in the competition was the Quarter-Finals where Chris Paul fell at the hands of South-African Lloyd Harris 6-1,6-0. The competition which took place at the Lagos lawn tennis club in Onikan was won by Antal Van Der Dium ( Male) and Conny Perrin (Female). The final also witnessed the presence of the Minister of Youths and Sports Barrister Solomon Dalong and the Governor of Lagos State Akinwunmi Ambode.
![Governor Ambode presents runner up trophy of men's singles to Zimbabwe](https://finixsports.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/governor-ambode-presents-runner-up-trophy-of-mens-singles-to-zimbabwe-e1450640567271.jpg?w=474&h=316)
There were a few Positives to take home this year from Nigerian Tennis (especially Table Tennis) and with the necessary funds hopefully we would have a better 2016 when it comes to playing tennis either on the Table, Grass, Clay or Hard court.
The WTA Season
![Serena Williams, French Open photo credit: Yann Caradec https:::creativecommons.org:licenses:by-sa:4.0:legalcode](https://finixsports.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/serena-williams-french-open-photo-credit-yann-caradec-httpscreativecommons-orglicensesby-sa4-0legalcode.jpg?w=474&h=330)
The WTA season this year was quite one sided as the big players were not good enough to stop Serena Williams from winning 3 Grand Slam titles (Australian Open, Roland Garros & Wimbledon). The American lost 3 games out of 53 which further proves how consistent she has been throughout this year.
World No.2 Simona Halep was disappointing this season winning just 3 WTA titles. Halep could not even take her opportunity when Serena was beaten at the US Open and her absence during the season ending WTA finals as she was beaten by Flavia Pennetta and Agnieszka Radwanska respectively. Maybe Halep needs to change her Coach in Darren Cahill as she seem not to be getting it when it comes to the Slams.
Spaniard Garbine Muguruza has had a wonderful 2015 and she would hope she takes this sort of form next year especially during the Slams.
The 22 year old had a blissful campaign this season as she ended the year as world No.3 (Youngest Player in the top 10) behind “Miss Consistent” Serena Williams and Simona Halep.
Muguruza has emerged top pick to represent Spain in the forthcoming Olympics and she would also team up with Carla Suarez Navarro and Rafael Nadal in the doubles.
![Maria Sharapova photo credit: Ian Gampon https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/2.0/legalcode](https://finixsports.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/maria-sharapova-at-us-open-tennis.jpg?w=474&h=301)
photo credit: Ian Gampon
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Sharapova would need to be fit if she wants to have a go at any Grand Slam title this year. The former French Open Champion is still a winner any day, but she needs to be consistent and hope to be injury free come next season.
Top Performers
Serena Williams
Flavia Pennetta
Garbine Muguruza
Agnieszka Radwanska
Venus Williams
FLOPS
![Caroline Wozniacki photo credit: Marianne Bevis https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/2.0/legalcode](https://finixsports.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/caroline-wozniacki-us-open-tennis.jpg?w=474&h=346)
photo credit: Marianne Bevis
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Simona Halep
Maria Sharapova
Petra Kvitova
Caroline Wozniacki
Player To Watch Next Season
![Garbine Muguruza photo credit: Si Robi https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/legalcode](https://finixsports.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/garbine-muguruza-spain-itf-wta-tennis-wimbledon.jpg?w=474)
photo credit: Si Robi
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Garbine Muguruza – The young Spaniard was very fantastic last season as she got to the final of Wimbledon which she lost to Serena Williams. Muguruza won WTA Singles title in this past season, and certainly the 22 year old would be eyeing a Grand Slam title come next season. With the epileptic form of her compatriots,apart from Serena,trust Muguruza to go all the way come next season.
The ATP Season
![Novak Djokovic at Us Open photo credit: Marianne Bevis https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/2.0/legalcode](https://finixsports.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/novak-djokovic-at-us-open-tennis.jpg?w=474&h=455)
photo credit: Marianne Bevis
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Novak ruled the Men tennis in this outgoing season with fantastic displays winning three Grand Slam titles in the process, finishing the year as No.1 and ranked 5th for the all time weeks at world No.1 moving past Rafael Nadal and John McEnroe in the process.
The Serb knows how to turn up in the Slams and how to defeat the big boys when it matters most. One sad thing on Novak’s mind this season would be his loss on clay to Swiss, Stanislas Wawrinka after he had defeated “The Master Of Clay” Rafael Nadal in the Semis. Novak would no doubt put in much effort to see if he could win that much coveted Roland Garros title come next season.
![Andy Murray, 2015 Davis Cup photo credit: Marianne Bevis https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/2.0/legalcode](https://finixsports.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/andy-murray-2015-davis-cup-great-britain.jpg?w=474&h=335)
photo credit: Marianne Bevis
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British No.1 Andy Murray, had had a fairly good season ending the year as the 2nd best player in the world. Murray who helped Britain win the Davis cup title after many years would have his sights at the Olympics in Rio come next season. Andy kept his manager Amelie Mauresmo at the end of this season which shows that he was satisfied with the level of performance he showed this season. Barring any injuries,Andy would give Novak a fight come next season.
![Roger Federer Australian Open photo credit Chip_2904 https://www.flickr.com/photos/76384935@N00/3248048505/sizes/l](https://finixsports.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/roger-federer-australia-open.jpg?w=474&h=316)
Roger Federer also had a decent season, though the Swiss would still want to win a Grand Slam title. It would be very difficult for Federer come next season with the form of the two players ahead of him in the rankings. On his day, the Swiss Master who became the 3rd player in the Open era to win 1000 Grand Slam titles, would defeat any player that come up against him.
Rafael Nadal would hope to forget this past season as injuries hampered him from competing at his peak. The Spaniard would sure look forward to his favorite surface (Clay) as a great chance to win yet another Grand Slam title come next year.
Top Performers
Novak Djokovic
Andy Murray
Roger Federer
Stanislas Wawrinka
Kevin Anderson
Flops
![Rafael Nadal photo credit: Marianne Bevis https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/2.0/legalcode](https://finixsports.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/rafael-nadal-spain-egland-tennis-atp.jpg?w=474&h=356)
photo credit: Marianne Bevis
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Rafael Nadal
Kei Nishikori
David Ferrer
Jo Wilfred Tsonga.
Player To Watch Next Season
![Stanislas Wawrinka photo credit: Kate https:::creativecommons.org:licenses:by-sa:2.0:legalcode.](https://finixsports.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/stanislas-wawrinka-photo-credit-kate-httpscreativecommons-orglicensesby-sa2-0legalcode.jpg?w=474&h=343)
Stanislas Wawrinka – The Swiss international just has a way of doing his business quietly and getting results. Wawrinka won Roland Garros this year and has been consistent all year long making the Semis of Grand Slam tournaments and also winning ATP titles. He would definitely be a dark horse next year in any Grand Slam competition and trust the Swiss not to disappoint.
The tennis has been fantastic this season from the local athletes to their foreign compatriots and we at Newfanzone.com believes 2016 would be a much better year where new discoveries would be made especially when it comes to Nigeria.
Ademola Adejuwo