Okutoyi dreaming up debut in Junior Grand Slam competitions

Kenya’s top-ranked tennis junior player Angela Okutoyi is keeping herself motivated as she works on improving her junior ranking to hit top 100 for a chance to play at the Junior Grand Slams which has been a big dream for the youngster.

Okutoyi earned a scholarship to the ITF high-performance tennis center in Casablanca, Morocco in November last year as part of ITF’s project to grow African junior tennis players and have them play at the highest junior level as well as transition to professional tennis and maintain their high performance.

The high-performance center is expected to give her an opportunity to play in some of the prestigious junior tournaments on the continent as well as the junior grand slam tourneys like the Wimbledon, French Open, US Open and Australian Open.

“Since joining the Moroccan center my experience has been different compared to the Kenyan ITF center. The schedule, training and players are different. I am keeping myself motivated, keeping up with the rest because all the players here are good. My expectations for the year that I will be here is to see my ITF ranking reach top 100 as that will give me opportunities to play at the highest level which has always been my dream. Being able to represent my country and the center at such tournaments and doing well will be a great achievement for me,” said Okutoyi from her base in Morocco.

 Okutoyi was speaking via zoom as she was feted by the Sports Journalists Association of Kenya (SJAK) as the LG Sports Personality of the Month of January 2021.

Okutoyi's twin sister Rosalind Asumwa picks the SJAK award on her behalf

The 17-year old earned the award after winning two back-to-back ITF Junior J4 singles events in Nairobi in January. She won 6-3 6-2 against Celine Simunyu of Ireland and beat Hungary’s Luca Udvardy 6-1, 6-4 to move to a career-high ranking of 127 globally. She also won one doubles title and took second place in another partnering with Iran’s Meshkatolzahra Safi. 

In 2018, she became the youngest player to win the Kenya Open then aged 14 after upsetting experienced three-time former champion Shufaa Changawa 6-1, 7-6 at Nairobi Club. In the same year, she won the Africa Junior Championship on Clay Court (AJCCC) Under 14 singles in Algeria before following it up with singles and doubles triumph at the ITF East African Under 18 Junior Circuit, ITF Nairobi Junior Open and Eastern Africa Zonal Championships Under-16 in 2019.