The African Games are a multi-sport competitive event held every four years. This event features nations from the African continent. It is organized by the African Union, the Association of National Olympic Committees of Africa, and Association of Africa Sports Confederation.
The African Games or the Pan African Games began in 1965 and has featured the sport of tennis since its inaugural edition. There is sparse information on the proceedings of the tennis events till 1999. Additionally, the sport did not feature competitions in different disciplines as seen today.
Since the 2003 edition, tennis has consistently been played in men’s singles, men’s doubles, men’s team, women’s singles, women’s doubles, and women’s team disciplines. In its latest edition held in 2023, players from 24 different nations featured in tennis events.
Tennis at the African Games follows the conventional scoring style. A three-set match is played in all matches of every event. To win a set, a player or pair needs to win six games with a difference of two. Should the score reach 6-6, then a tiebreak decides the winner of the set. The tiebreak ends when a player wins seven points with a lead of two points. The doubles events sees the third set as a set tiebreak. The team who wins ten points with a difference of two wins the match.
As of 2024, the most successful nation in tennis at the African Games is Egypt, with a medal count of 50. Out of these 50, 14 are gold medals. The next best nation is Nigeria with 34 medals (7 gold medals). Tunisia’s Ons Jabeur, who is a three-time slam runner-up won the women’s singles at the African Games in 2011.
