Rwandan Tennis Federation (FRT) president Theoneste Karenzi has said that everything is in place for the 2023 Tennis Genocide Memorial tournament scheduled from May 15-20 at Kicukiro Ecology Tennis Club located at IPRC-Kigali.

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The fifth edition of the annual tennis competition is part of the federation’s activities to honour sportsmen and women killed during the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi.

"Everything is ready for the Tennis Genocide Memorial tournament starting next week, we hope we will have a good tournament,” said Karenzi.

The 2023 edition, he said, will feature local athletes, men and women, competing in three categories namely amateur, professionals and wheelchair tennis.

The week-long tournament will also serve as pre-selection for female players who will represent Rwanda in Billie Jean Cup and male players who will feature Rwanda’s national team that will take part in the Davis Cup tourneys. Both tournaments will be held in Kigali in June and July respectively.

Among some of the teams that will participate in the Tennis Genocide Memorial tournament include CIMERWA Tennis Club, Cercle Sportif de Kigali, Kicukiro Ecology Tennis Club, Amahoro Tennis Club, Cercle Sportif de Butare, Nyanza Tennis Club, Ibirunga Tennis Club, Nyarutarama Tennis Club and Kanombe Tennis Club.

The players will be looking to dethrone tournament’s reigning champions Etienne Niyigena and Joselyne Umulisa who won last year’s edition in male and female categories respectively.

Niyigena beat Matayo Uwizeyimana 2-0 (6-0, 6-4) to clinch the male professional’s category while Umulisa defeated Megane Ingabire 6-2, 6-3 to win the women’s professionals title.