Goodnews Aina from the Lekman Tennis Academy in Ado Ekiti, continued her rich vein of form by winning the 2025 Zenith Bank Next Generation Masters for the most promising top eight tennis players up to the age of 21.
Aina who won the Girls 16 event of the CBN Junior Championships in April and in July beat the senior national champion, Khadijat Mohammed, to reach the quarters of the senior event, did not drop a set in the entire tournament.
In the finals, she beat another promising junior, Nenrot Suwa from Jos who had played from the preliminaries to the semifinals of the VEMP Senior National Championship in Abuja in July. Aina’s win was decisive – 6-1, 6-3.
In the boys event, it was Ajao from the Lagos Lawn Tennis Club who recovered from a disastrous first set to beat his club team mate, Gbolahan Oladipupo, 0-6, 6-1, 10-7 to take the the boys’ crown.
The Zenith Bank Next Generation masters aims to position the most promising juniors for success by isolating, counseling and motivating them to be the best they can be. According to Godwin Kienka, director of the International Tennis Academy which runs the event, 80% of the national champions and top players have gone through this tournament since its inception.
