2025 Uganda Tennis Open expanded

The Uganda Tennis Association (UTA) on Wednesday launched the 2025 edition of the Uganda Open, the premier Tennis tournament held annually in the country.

This elite tournament will be held at the Lugogo Tennis Complex and Kampala Club from May 10-24.

This year’s edition comes with new features, the main one being the expansion from only a pros tournament to pros and amateurs tournament meaning in the two weeks of play we shall witness matches in different categories including Wheelchair, Junior and Veteran categories across both genders.

“We have the Veterans tournament, which is starting on the 10th at Kampala Club. We have the Juniors tournament starting also on the 10th at Lugogo Tennis Complex and we also have The Open, which is going to start on the 19th of May this year,” said Daniel Kyazze, the Vice President, Uganda Tennis Association.

“But this year we also have something different, we are bringing back Wheelchair Tennis, and we have a sponsor, Elitex, who sponsors the Wheelchair Tennis. So, we have introduced a complete section of players for those kids who are disadvantaged or who are deformed in any way to also be able to play Tennis and this is in conformity with the International Tennis Federation, which encourages nobody to be left behind during the course of playing the sport of tennis.

“The under-14s are very important for this tournament because they feed into the national tennis teams eventually, which will also involve them in the open,” Kyazze adds.

The Professional Circuit that will run from 19^th to 24^th May is expected to have players from across the region and different countries across Africa, and probably even from Europe. All these players, apart from playing for the cash prize they will also be playing for ITF points, because the Uganda Open is an ITF-sanctioned event. The prize money for this tournament is 20 million Uganda shillings which will be spread out across the different categories.

This year’s edition of the Uganda Open will have a Ugandan tournament Referee, Charles Wanyama, for the first time in history.

 “I’m excited to be the referee for the first time, but it comes with challenges, but not much! I’ve just come from the refereeing school in Pretoria in February this year, so I should be able to practice what I learned and what I’ve been doing. I have refereed tournaments in Kampala too like the Davis Cup qualifiers and the schools and universities tournaments. So this is something which I’m capable of doing for my country,” Wanyama commented on being a tournament referee.

Wanyama also emphasized that he will be doing this with his colleagues, so it will be more of a team effort from the different referees.

“The involves me using just the software and also applying the rules and the regulations of Tennis and also making the draw and then overseeing the event with my other fellow 10s officials. So I’m excited. I’m waiting to do this for the first time,” he further remarked.

The Uganda Open this year also welcomes a ton of sponsors but majorly welcomes Plascon as the title sponsor of the tournament.

“We have not been known to be associated with tennis, you know us for many other sports disciplines, but the why is because the new leadership of the Uganda Tennis Association has demonstrated very good level of organization and wonderful plans that are quite persuasive and we believe need to be supported, for them to be actualized, to enable the development of the game of tennis in this country,” said Moses Kato, the Head of Sales at Kansai Plascon. 

In his remarks, Kato also emphasized that Tennis is one of the biggest global sports but in Uganda it’s quite underrated, saying that the arrangements UTA has put in place show that the future is bright for Tennis in Uganda. Gathering this from the few things he has seen the association do with grassroots development and local capacity building.

“I think because for the first time now this tournament is going to even have a local umpire or referee, which was not the case before. Those members who are physically challenged are also going to have a category to participate under the Wheelchair Tennis category. So, there are many positives that we believe are quite good and must be supported. That’s why we have come out boldly as the main sponsors to be able to help the Uganda Tennis Association further the game of Tennis in this country.” 

The tourney will start on Saturday, 10th May, and registration will close on 8^th May 2025.

Ugandan players expected to play in the pro category include Davis Cup players like David Oringa, Frank Tayebwa and Simon Ayella, and Billie Jean King Cup players Patience Athieno and Winne Birungi.

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