A theme of 2023 has been nations hosting ITF World Tennis Tour events for the first time, particularly across Africa, and that trend continues this week with Congo the latest to make history.

Congo will stage its maiden ITF World Tennis Tour event, whether that be in men’s, women’s or junior competition, when it hosts the first of back-to-back J30 tournaments at Pole Tennis Club in capital city Brazzaville. Play gets underway today.

The ITF’s mission is to broaden opportunity, support talent and develop tennis around the globe, with this very much evident in Africa where this year more than 110 junior tournaments will be held in excess of 20 nations.

This figure has increased year on year and more starkly of late, with 78 tournaments staged in Africa during 2019 and just 13 across 10 nations a decade ago in 2013. Congo is the latest nation to benefit. 

“These J30 events embody a new page in the future of tennis in Congo, and in particular within the tennis community,” Germain Ickonga Akindou, President of Fédération Congolaise de Lawn Tennis, tells itftennis.com.

“Tennis development is in the soul of our tennis community, and we are laying foundations for this generation and the next. Developing tennis will always be at the heart of our priorities.”

Tennis has been played in Congo since the mid-1930s with Fédération Congolaise de Lawn Tennis established in 1962, although the sport’s progression and rate of development fluctuated in the decades since.

The last four years, however, have seen significant progress with the federation organising Davis Cup Africa Group IV events and Congo joining the ITF Junior Tennis Initiative – a key development programme.

Somebody who is incredibly close to all things African tennis is Thierry Ntwali, the ITF’s Development Officer for East and Central Africa, and the sport’s advancement within Congo is in no way lost on him.

“The J30 Brazzaville events are unprecedented in Congo and will bring together players from all over the world – from Europe, America, Asia and Africa,” Ntwali tells itftennis.com.

“It forms part of the federation’s will to open up Congo to the world, while at the same time giving the Congolese youth the opportunity to play international competition in their own country.

“The ultimate goal is to offer talented young Congolese tennis players the opportunity to earn points in the ITF World Tennis Tour Junior Rankings and then position Congo as a host country to the world.”

The invigoration of tennis within Congo continues next month when the nation hosts back-to-back ITF World Tennis Tour Men’s events at M25 level, which are also being held in Brazzaville but at Complexe Sportif de Kintele.

Hugues-Henry Ngouelondele is the tournament director for both the junior and men’s events, and he is fully focused on making a positive impression at the opening J30 Brazzaville extravaganza to ensure Congo thrives under the ITF World Tennis Tour spotlight.

“I would like to thank the president of the Congolese tennis federation for his tireless effort to promote tennis in Congo, and for this wonderful initiative which gives Congo an image of a nation looking to the future," Ngouelondele tells itftennis.com.

“Thanks to the organisation of these junior competitions we were also able to rehabilitate the Pole Tennis Club, and we are proud that it is now at an international level. We are ready for this new opportunity.”

Exciting times.

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