Great talent show as curtains fold on Nyanza Tennis tourney

In the Under-14 category, Aaditya Dahiya whipped Ricky Omondi 4-0, 2-4 and 4-1 to emerge top in the group. Ricky had beaten John Onyango 4-2, 4-0 in the first semi-finals while Aaditya got a walkover against Shandeep 4-1, 4-0.

John Onyango romped over Sandeep Jaiswal 4-1, 1-4 and 4-2 to emerge the winner in the category with Jaiswal (Shandeep) finishing fourth.

Round Robin

Aaditya Dahiya won again in the Under-16 beating Aditya Jaiswal to finish top of the group, which was played on a round robin format with 62 points.

 Sandeep Jaiswal was second with 59 points ahead of  Dickens Wanyonyi who bagged 43 points. The fourth position went to Nerville Omondi with 47 points while in the fifth was Jimmy Odhiambo on 42 points.

Aditya Jaiswal won the under-18 category of the tournament after getting 29 points edging out second placed Eugene Omondi (18 points) as Khalifa Khadlid settled for third with just six points.

Meanwhile, Andy Murray can be competitive immediately at next month’s Australian Open if he has fully recovered from back surgery, says John McEnroe.

Surgery setback

The Briton had surgery in September and has not played competitively since.

“If he’s healthy, he is going to be one of the guys who can go the distance (in Australia),” said seven-time Grand Slam champion McEnroe.

But Tim Henman said Murray must “remain patient” and not rush his comeback if he wants to be a force in 2014.

The first Grand Slam of 2014 starts in Australia on January 13.

Murray’s lingering back problem forced him to miss the French Open in May, but he recovered to become the first Briton to win the Wimbledon men’s singles title since Fred Perry in 1936.

In September, his defence of his US Open title ended in the quarter-finals. Murray, 26, then underwent surgery and missed the recent ATP World Tour Finals in London as he recovered. McEnroe believes the break from the sport could have helped Murray, just like it did Rafael Nadal, who took seven months out before returning in February to win 10 titles, including two Grand Slams.

“It’s going to be unpredictable when you haven’t played,” said McEnroe, who is playing in the Maste. “But you could make the argument that it could help him.”