Kenyan teen Okutoyi hopes tennis will change family fortunes
Nairobi, Tuesday
Every time Angella Okutoyi steps on court, she thinks of how tennis will change her family’s life.
The 18-year-old Kenyan has an unshakable bond with her grandmother Mary Omukuya Ndong’a, forged after Angella’s mother tragically died during childbirth.
Raised by Mary, who works as a school cleaner in Nairobi, Okutoyi calls her grandmother ‘mum’.
“She had to take of care everything by herself and she stood in as our father, mother and grandmother,” Okutoyi told BBC Sport Africa ahead of International Women’s Day on Tuesday.
“Tennis will help me get my grandmother from where she is now, remove her from poverty and build her a house and get her a good life. “My grandmother is the one who pushes me to do what I am doing so seeing her happy makes me happy.”
Okutoyi is already showing promise in her fledgling career, becoming the first Kenyan female to win a junior Grand Slam match as she progressed to the third round of the girls’ singles at the Australian Open in January. Mary smiles with pride in her tiny living room when she is shown pictures of Okutoyi in action in Melbourne, and it is easy to see why tennis is more than a sport for the teenager.
“I wouldn’t say it’s therapy but on court I know it’s something that is going to help me in future,” Okutoyi said.
“Tennis means everything to me because it gives us the meal that we have at home now. It gives me the courage, it helps my family.”
Okutoyi is the top-ranked African in the International Tennis Federation (ITF) junior world rankings at 59 and could be a future African queen of tennis.
The Australian Open provided the chance to mix with some of her idols - but the competition itself provided a steep learning curve.
“I met some big players like Coco Gauff and Madison Keys but stepping on the court, it was a different feeling,” she said.
“My main goal was to go there and enjoy every single thing I was doing and I took that through in a positive way.
“One lesson I learnt is you have to be mentally strong.
We all know how to play tennis - but if you are not mentally strong or physically fit you cannot win any match there.”
A fighter who ‘doesn’t give up’
Inspired by the great Serena Williams, Okutoyi’s route from a poor background into elite tennis has not been easy.
“My daughter died during surgery when giving birth to Angella and her twin sister Rosie,” Mary told BBC Sport Africa while showing us a photo of her late daughter, who was also called Angella.
“They never saw their mother.”
Four years after her birth, Okutoyi started playing tennis at the Loreto Convent Valley Road school in the Kenyan capital Nairobi.
“When I was young it wasn’t easy to get things,” she said. -BBC
