A total 32 tennis players are expected to take part at the much-anticipated Rwanda Open M25 tennis tournament which kicks off, September 4-10 and September 11-17, Kigali Ecology Tennis Club.
READ ALSO: Kenya’s Njogu, Okutoyi win Rwanda Open 2022
The annual tournament returns to Kigali after the same city hosted a successful edition in 2022.
The tournament used to bring together tennis players from Rwanda and the region but, after adding it to the ITF World Tennis Tour "Futures” calendar, organisers (Rwanda Tennis Federation) opened doors to professional tennis players from across the globe as per of making it more competitive.
A host of professional tennis players have not only shown interest but also confirmed their participation in the competition since it gives points to the ATP ranking as well increased prize money.
READ ALSO: We want to make Rwanda Open a big brand, organisers
The winner of each of the first week of the competition will get 25 points and the same will apply to the winner of the second week. Also, organisers injected $25,000 worth of cash prizes to be awarded to eight first players in each of the first and second week of the competition.
The draw for the competition will involve 32 of whom 12 will go through the preliminaries. After preliminaries the remaining 27 players will meet according to their world ranking.
American Olivier Crawford is the highest ranked of all players who are expected to take part in the competition. He is ranked 295th on the ITF World Ranking.
The 20 players exempted from the preliminary stages are ranked below 1000.
Kenyan duo Albert John Njogu and Angela Okutoyi were crowned Rwanda Open 2022 champions after they beat compatriots Ismael Changawa and Riselida Asumwa in the finals respectively.