For many
African-American celebrities, visiting Africa satisfies a yearning to return to
their distant ancestral homeland. Not so for tennis player Serena Williams
“I’d love to say
I’m from Africa, but we’re from the United States and we’re proud to be from
there as well,” she told newsmen in Lagos on Wednesday, after a Nigerian
reporter asked if perhaps she was originally from Nigeria.
“But my Mom named
my sister (Venus) after an African name,” she hastily added.
The Williams
sisters and their mother are in Nigeria this week to promote women’s tennis and
empowerment of women on the continent.
For Venus, it is
her first time in Africa.
Taking their own
successes in women’s tennis, a sport which before them was dominated by white
players, the sisters want to inspire women in the African continent to take up
the sport and, more generally, to pursue their dreams despite whatever odds
they face in male dominated societies.
“We were able to
break the mould and win a lot of grand slams and change the face of tennis …
when tennis was very dominated by white people,” 31-year-old Serena said three
days after beating rival Maria Sharapova in the final of the WTA Championships
in Istanbul.
“It doesn’t matter
what your background is and where you come from, if you have dreams and goals,
that’s all that matters,” she added.
The sisters later
conducted tennis classes with some children at a Lagos sports club.
On Thursday [today],
they will visit a school to discuss empowerment of girls then on Friday they
will play an exhibition match against each other.
“We’re very
excited to be playing tennis here,” Venus said.
“Of all the finals
everywhere … this will be our final here in Nigeria.
“I don’t know
who’s going to win but Serena just won the championship so I know she’s ready.
I’ll have to play my best tennis.”
Inspiring young
people
Earlier on the
Williams sisters had paid a courtesy visit to the Lagos State governor, Babatunde
Fashola at Lagos House, Marina.
During the visit,
Mr. Fashola expressed hope that the visit of the award winning lawn tennis
players would be a monumental turning point in inspiring young people to pursue
their dreams the way the Williams sisters have done.
The governor said
the Williams sisters have been a source of inspiration to many people for
different things that they represent not just in terms of sports but also
charity work they engage in and the image they cut.
He said there is a
lot of work to be done in Nigeria with young people such as getting them back
on track and providing opportunities to them.
He added that many
people might not have realized how large a followership the Williams enjoy in
Nigeria until the news broke on Tuesday night that they would be coming to
Lagos because he received lots of enquiries and text messages about their
programme in Lagos and messages the people want him to pass across to them.
Mr. Fashola said
part of the questions people would have loved to ask is whether they would be
opening a tennis school in Lagos, if they are going to help young people and
bring back tennis into prominence as well as speaking up on women rights
issues.
According to the
Governor, however, the biggest thing that they have done and which many people
will benefit from is the inspiration and hope in what they are doing, stating
that Lagos used to be the greatest tennis centre in the sub region which had
about three to four ITF Tournaments years ago.
He recalled that
Nigeria once had a player named Nduka Odizor who was in the last 16 of
Wimbledon, saying the Tennis club where the sisters would be playing on is 117
years old which is a lot of history about what has happened in the world of
Tennis in the State.
The Governor added
that the present administration has taken the initiative over the last decade
to begin to build it back, saying there is also a Governor’s Cup Annual Tennis
Tournament which is an ITF tournament commenced by his predecessor that the present
administration has kept faith with.
He also said the
tournament which the final was played last week Saturday enjoys a lot of
sponsorship with representatives of about 55 countries coming to participate.
The Governor who
formally welcomed the two sisters to Lagos on behalf of the government and good
people of Lagos said they are one of the most prominent faces in the world of
sports.
Speaking earlier,
Venus expressed happiness at being in Lagos, saying her mother and sisters are
in Nigeria and looking forward to their match and being inspired by women in
Nigeria.
Also speaking,
Serena thanked the organizers for facilitating the visit, adding that though
they have been in Africa before, this is there first time in Nigeria. She added
that this represents a great opportunity for both of them.
She expressed hope
that they would share their realized dreams with the people, saying they are
inspired as the people are.
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