Following a structural adjustment to men’s and women’s professional tennis, which was brought about by an agreement between the ATP, WTA and the International Tennis Federation, some Nigerian players are now being ranked on the ATP singles and doubles rankings.

The agreement included an allocation of ATP and WTA ranking points at $15,000 ITF World Tennis Tour tournaments and additional ranking points at men’s $25,000 tournaments, applicable to every event that had taken place since August 2018. That meant players who competed at the Lagos Open in October last year and all three ITF World Tennis Tour events in Abuja this year will get the allocated ATP points designated to the rounds they finished in.

As a result, Joseph Imeh, having made the round of 16 at the 2019 Dayak Tennis Championship (an M25 event) in April and the M15 Accra event in Ghana in May has received 2 points on the singles rankings and is now ranked 1549 in the world, while Sylvester Emmanuel, on account of reaching the round of 16 at the 2019 Tombim Abuja Open (also an M25 event) in April, has received 1 point to be ranked world No.1895.

Sylvester Emmanuel

Also, Mukhtar Andu and Musa Mohammed, who played doubles at the 2019 GSL Open, Henry Atseye and Taiwo Owolabi who played doubles in the 1st leg of the 2018 Lagos Open and the duo of Michael Junior Michael and Christian Paul, who played doubles in the 2nd leg of the 2018 Lagos Open in October, have all received 3 ATP points each on the ATP doubles rankings on account of reaching the doubles quarterfinals in those events.