18 Nov 2025

Botswana’s rising tennis star, Ntungamili Raguin will roar on home soil on November 19 when he takes on Nithin Padmanabhan of India at the ITF J60 tournament.

Living every athlete’s dream of playing on home soil, Raguin will be spurred on by the cheers of his supporters and is determined to give them a game like no other that he has so far played.

Encouraged by his November 15 win at the J100 tournament in Kenya, Raguin a seed two of the tournament, is confident that he will put up a good show against Nithin in a game that will be played on hard court.

At the J100 tournament, he won 3-6, 7-5, and 6-3 against Italy’s Mattia Baroni, claiming his ITF World Tennis Tour Junior sixth title. He revealed in an interview that his goal was to win both the J60 and J100 tournaments at home, hence he would fight bitterly to win his every match. 

He said he would ride on the good performance that he displayed in his last tournament in Kenya, adding that he trusts his muscle memory to carry him through.

Furthermore, he said his ultimate goal is to qualify for the Australian Open billed for next year, a goal that he said he could achieve through accumulating more points in tournaments such as the one he was playing in today.

He said despite playing at home, he was not under any pressure but would use the home support as a morale booster.

“Pressuring myself can actually turn into bad energy that will result in me not playing well, but I have been preparing very well. I have been playing on clay court and now I have to adapt to playing on hard court,” he said.

Talking about the difference between the two types of courts, he said the clay was slippery and when balls bounced, they slowed down, whereas they move faster on the hard court.

His coach, Killian Sinclair said they had prepared to win His coach, Killian Sinclair said they have prepared to win the tournament both in singles and doubles. Sinclair praised both his player’s mental resilience and competitive spirit, saying it was this combination that had propelled him to win his last tournament.

“In Kenya he was down, but he made a great comeback and went on to win the tournament. That alone demonstrates that his mental strength is sharp,” he said.  ENDS