HISTORY OF RFT

It is towards the end of the 40's on handful of clay courts scattered throughout the Kingdom, tennis in Rwanda is born; probably introduced by Catholic missionaries or the Belgian colonial administration .Mwari RUDAHIGWA, converted to Christianity would probably have been initiated to the practice of tennis by Catholic priests. The first major club that was founded in 1956 is the Kigali Sports Club (CSK). The second, Umubano Méridien (4 courts) was created in 1986. These two clubs still exist and are with Nyarutarama (3 courts) and Réméra founded in 1989 (3 courts), the strongholds dunedis in Rwanda. In the late 1990s and throughout the 2000s, Rwandan tennis leaders were determined to promote and intensify tennis at school, build infrastructure, establish a national training center and set up a training program. National Coaching Institute. This vision was encouraged at the highest level of the state by His Excellency Paul KAGAME, the President of the Republic, who practices tennis and who has personally invested in taking full charge of the cost of organizing the first Rwanda Open in 2000 This major tennis event in Rwanda inspired the tennis leaders of that period who decided to host, later, a stage of the professional circuit of the ITF.