A total of 52 tennis players from 18 countries, including host nation Rwanda, have confirmed their participation in the 2023 ITF World Tennis Tour Junior tournament which kicks off in Kigali on Monday.

The tournament, which will bring together the Junior Grade 5 tennis players, will be held in two various sections, with the first set to take place from April 24-28 at Kicukiro Ecology Tennis Club.

Of the tennis players who confirmed their participation in Kigali include 15 Rwandans. Other countries that will be represented include Egypt, Madagascar, Poland, India, Kenya, Italy, Czech Republic, Russia, Burundi, Canada, Zimbabwe, Tanzania, Taiwan, Belgium, South Africa and Moldova.

The ITF World Tennis Tour Juniors tournament is one of the six international tennis tournaments that Rwanda will host in 2023.

One of the major tennis tournaments coming to Kigali include Rwanda Open which will take place in September and Davis Cup which will take place from July 17-22.

Another major tournament to watch is the Billie Jean King Cup which will take place in Kigali from June 5-11. Eleven countries namely Rwanda, Angola, Cameroon, Congo Brazzaville, DR Congo, Ethiopia, Lesotho, Madagascar, Mozambique, Senegal and Tanzania will participate in the competition.

In a press briefing on Friday, Rwanda Tennis Federation president Theoneste Karenzi told journalists that it is an honor that the International Tennis Federation (ITF) has chosen Rwanda to host such big tennis tournaments.

"All these tournaments are coming to Kigali because ITF has been impressed with the way we successfully hosted some international tournaments that we hosted last year,” Karenzi said.