Aug 16 , 2026
A man gazes upward at the tennis ball before unleashing a fierce serve at the Tennis Club in the heart of Addis Abeba, beside Ghion Hotel along Ras Damtew Street. Established in 1970 during the reign of Emperor Haile Selassie, the club traces its roots to the early 1960s, when it was known as Filweha Tennis Club, while the sport itself had reached the capital decades earlier through the Olympiakos Greek Club in the 1930s and an earlier tennis ground established in 1949. For the players, the score may read 40-love, but beyond the numbers, it is their love for the game that keeps them returning to the court.