1976 Lagos WCT

September 2026 1976 Lagos WCT 9–15 February 1st World Championship Tennis 16S / 8D $60,000 Clay (outdoors) Lagos, Nigeria Caracas, Venezuela Lagos Lawn Tennis Club USA Dick Stocktonhttps://www.atptour.com/en/scores/archive/lagos/205/1976/draws?matchtype=singles 1976 Lagos WCT Men's Singles draw Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) final not played 1978 Lagos Classic Lagos Open (1976–1991)Lagos Open The 1976 Lagos WCT, also known as the 1976 Lagos Tennis Classic, was a men's tennis tournament played on outdoor clay courts at the Lagos Lawn Tennis Club in Lagos, Nigeria.http://www.itftennis.com/procircuit/tournaments/men%27s-tournament/info.aspx?tournamentid=1010002635 WCT Lagos 1976 International Tennis Federation (ITF) 2017-07-24 2016-03-26 https://web.archive.org/web/20160326101251/http://www.itftennis.com/procircuit/tournaments/men%27s-tournament/info.aspx?tournamentid=1010002635 dead The event was part of the 1976 World Championship Tennis circuit. It was the inaugural edition of the tournament, which was the first professional tennis tournament in Black Africa, and was held from February 9 to 15, 1976. Unseeded Dick Stockton won the singles title.World of Tennis 1977 : a BP yearbook 1977 Macdonald and Janes London 9780354090117 146 John Barrett John Barrett (tennis) Attempted coup d'etat In the morning of Friday, 13 February 1976, the Head of the Federal Military Government of Nigeria, Murtala Mohammed, was assassinated by a group of young army rebels in an attempted coup d'etat.WCT erred in Nigeria, top-ranked Ashe reasons JET 25 March 1976 XLIX 26 47 Johnson Publishing Company https://books.google.com/books?id=U8ADAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA47 Due to the following unrest the tournament was halted and no matches were played on Friday and Saturday. The passports of most of the players were in possession of Nigerian immigration and in order to get them back and leave the country John McDonald, WCT's International Director, ordered the tournament to resume on Sunday, 15 February. The quarterfinals of the singles event were played that day and the semifinals and final were scheduled for Monday. The doubles event was cancelled at the semifinals stage due to a lack of time. On Monday, while Arthur Ashe and Jeff Borowiak were playing their semifinal match and had just started the second set, a group of soldiers entered the stadium and herded the players off the court at gunpoint. The two players fled to the US Embassy where they were later joined by the other players who had been staying in a hotel and by footballer Pelé, who was in the country on a tour sponsored by Pepsi. The following Tuesday the tennis players and officials were given an armed police escort to Lagos International Airport and left the country for Accra, Ghana on a plane provided by general Obasanjo's government. There, they connected to a Rome-bound flight, where they were scheduled to attend the following week's tournament in the Italian capital. The start of Rome WCT was delayed by a day in order to accommodate the players arriving from Lagos. The Lagos WCT's semifinal and final were concluded on 1 and 2 April, in Venezuela in-between another regularly scheduled tournament (the Caracas WCT) in order to allocate the prize money and ranking points of Lagos WCT.Olaojo Aiyegbayo The story of Lagos' ill-fated 1976 Professional Tennis Tournament http://africasacountry.com/2015/07/the-story-of-lagos-ill-fated-1976-professional-tennis-tournament/ Africa is a Country 12 July 2015 24 July 2017 1 April 2019 https://web.archive.org/web/20190401030837/https://www.africasacountry.com/2015/07/the-story-of-lagos-ill-fated-1976-professional-tennis-tournament deadAshe beats Pole after soldiers force day delay https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=-u0NAAAAIBAJ&pg=4944%2C1714075 Pittsburgh Post-Gazette AP 19 February 1976 13 Google News Archive Finals Singles USA Dick Stockton defeated USA Arthur Ashe, 6–3, 6–2 Doubles The doubles event was cancelled at the semifinal stage. References External links ITF tournament edition details Lagos Category:1976 in Nigerian sport Category:Tennis tournaments in Nigeria Category:International sports competitions in Lagos Category:1970s in Lagos Category:1976 in African sport