AKenya’s Angela Okutoy entered uncharted territory as she reached the semi-finals of the tennis tournament at the African Games in Accra last week. Across the net is Mayar Sherif of Egypt, ranked 532nd in the world, an elite player ranked 70th. With the tournament winner potentially qualifying for the Olympics, the stakes are high. Incredibly, more than four hours later, the 20-year-old Okutoy won 5-7, 7-5, 7-6 (5) and left Ghana with the gold medal.
Making history has become the order of the day in Otoy’s short career. In 2022, she became the first Kenyan to win the Australian Open, a junior Grand Slam event, and later won the 2022 Wimbledon women’s doubles title with Rose Marie Nijkamp of the Netherlands. Her hopes and dreams for the professional tour reflect one of the most pressing questions in elite tennis: Can the sport provide a pathway for black African tennis players to reach the top?
Although tennis is a global sport, Africa has long been in a blind spot, both in terms of its countries competing on tours and in terms of grassroots participation. Notable exceptions are the South Africans, as well as Tunisia’s Ons Jabeur, one of the greatest trailblazers of her time, reaching No. 2 in the rankings and reaching the Grand Slams three times finals. Sherif himself has followed in Jabeur’s footsteps, reaching a career-high ranking of 31st last year.
In sub-Saharan Africa, historically few athletes or events have reached the elite level of the sport. Over the past year, though, some countries have made progress in helping players take that step. Last year in Burundi, Bujumbura hosted its first women’s professional event and back-to-back ITF World Tennis Tour events, with local favorite Sada Nahimana reaching the final as top seed. The event will return next month for its second edition.
In December, Nairobi upgraded by hosting two events, one of which Okutoy won her first ITF title. Meanwhile, just this month, Rwanda hosted two ATP Challenger Tour events for the first time.
The aim is to bring professional tennis closer to aspiring players in the country and its neighboring countries, said Théoneste Karenzi, president of the Rwanda Tennis Federation. “We have also been discussing this with other East African countries so that when a player comes to Rwanda you can turn it into a tour of the region. It becomes easier and cheaper for players to come to the region. This is our philosophy and the way forward.”
Although many African players have reached the highest levels of junior tennis in recent years, the prospect of transitioning to the professional circuit is more difficult due to the scarcity of events on the continent. “The junior category is OK, we can accommodate quite a lot of players because there is no prize money,” said Wanjiru Mbugua, secretary-general of the Kenya Tennis Association and vice-president of the African Tennis Confederation. “But when it comes to professional events, more funds are needed to host them, so we have very little funds. Therefore, any player who needs to gain points has to go abroad.”
While there are professional tournaments in North Africa such as Egypt, Morocco and Tunisia, Mbugua noted that even these tournaments are difficult to attend. “Remember, for us here in Africa, you have to go to Europe before you can go to Tunisia, or you have to go to Dubai, or you have to go to Qatar before you can go back to Africa. These are [flight] The route you have. This is essentially the same as flying to Europe. “
Kalenzi also highlighted the perpetual challenge of obtaining visas as another obstacle to the success of African players. “Air tickets and visas to these European countries sometimes pose major challenges. Some of these young people [players] Sponsorship from the private sector is minimal. They don’t have the financial means, so the problem is money to travel around the world, and visas, which are complicated in some countries in Europe and the United States. “
While players often play in front of small crowds on the ITF World Tennis Tour, each new event recently has attracted large local crowds. As the Rwanda Challenger tournament concluded, a visit from tennis-playing President Paul Kagame raised further eyebrows.
This tournament also invited former French Open champion Yannick Noah to serve as the tournament ambassador. In 1971, Arthur Ashe discovered 11-year-old Noah while traveling to Cameroon. Noah moved to France and remains the last Frenchman to win the French Open since his victory in 1983. His presence serves as a reminder of another missing element: inspiration and examples from previously successful people.
“He did a clinic for some of our players, our young players, and he told his story,” Carenzi said. “To have a star like him, who was a professional tennis player and a Grand Slam champion, talking to them and letting them know it’s possible and meeting them one-on-one: that’s very important.”
In an interview with Regis Isheja in Rwanda, Noah compared success in tennis to long-distance running. “For an African tennis player, I would say his journey is like a marathon,” he said. “For European or American runners, the marathon is 26 miles. For African kids, the marathon is 29 miles.”
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For those who are talented and want to make it to the top of the leaderboard, their marathon may seem longer. After her success as a junior, Okutoy did not jump headfirst into the professional circuit like many of her peers, but instead enrolled at Auburn University, where she competed in the NCAA on a full scholarship.
Some outstanding African players have been fortunate enough to receive help, such as Nahimana, who rose to No. 12 in the junior rankings and cracked the top 250 on last year’s WTA Tour, while Ivorian Eliakim ·Eliakim Coulibaly ranked 16th in the youth group rankings. Last year on the ATP Tour, they had a junior high score and a career-high score of 378. Both were invited to train at the Mouratoglou Academy in France.
However, in Okutoy’s case, Tennis Kenya simply did not have the resources to fund her post-teenage career. The academy system provided her with an ideal coaching base and hopefully a good foundation for finishing college and turning professional.
“She went above and beyond what we could offer,” Mbugua said. “We did the calculations for her to turn pro and we realized that the income would be about $200,000 a year. Even if we found that money, we would still need a lot of other things. It would help her with transportation, accommodation, but We also need a coach, sparring partners. She needs a physio and the whole set-up.”
However, her victory at the African Games changed everything. There is one condition for her Olympic berth: Otuui must be ranked in the top 400 before the Olympic deadline of June 10 to get a seat in the main draw. Between her college competition, work and all the financial challenges that come with playing the tour regularly, she, her team and Tennis Kenya must now find a way to give her the best chance of getting to Paris.
“I couldn’t sleep,” Mbugua said, laughing. “Because I was like: ‘Now we’ve won, now we have to do the impossible.'”
