- Kenyan tennis player Angella Okutoyi is spoilt for choice
- She has 30 college offers from coaches
- That’s despite falling off in the U.S Open after a second-round defeat
Kenyan tennis player Angella Okutoyi is spoilt for choice with 30 full scholarship offers from colleges abroad.
Okutoyi fell off of US Open Junior Championships last Thursday but had already piqued the interest of colleges. Together with her doubles partner Rose Marie Nijkamp, she lost in the second round of girls’ doubles.
Americans Piper Charney and Natalie Black won the second round 7-6, 6-3 against Okutoyi and Nijkamp. The Kenyan and her partner had earlier thrashed fifth-seeds Qavia Lopez of the USA and Christine Svendsen of Denmark 6-1, 6-3 in the first round.
The Kenya Open champion in 2018 says she will embark on a college tour now that she is out of the U.S Open. She told Nation that 30 college coaches approached her to join their teams.
Wanjiru Mbugua-Karani, the Tennis Kenya Secretary General, said Okutoyi would visit each of the colleges to see if they suit her ambition.
Okutoyi posted a victory at Wimbledon 2022 by winning her first Grand Slam together with Nijkamp for the Netherlands.
To secure the record-setting victory in Wimbledon, the team defeated Kayla Cross and Victoria Mboko of Canada by a score of two sets to one.
Angella Okutoyi. Photo/Sportsreview
The Canadian girls took the opening set 6-3 in 27 minutes, giving the duo a poor start to the game.
However, Okutoyi and Nijkamp came back and won the second set 6-4 in 32 minutes to force a tiebreaker.
They did not give up easily, and eventually won the tie-breaker 11-9. They not only won the match and the championship but also walked momentously along the path of history.
Following her win at Wimbledon 2022, Kenya Airways (KQ) presented her with a special gift as a way to show their appreciation. She flew back to her home country of Kenya on Monday in the business class cabin of KQ’s aircraft.
This came about as a result of Tennis Kenya submitting a request to the airline requesting that she be upgraded to business class. During the journey, the flight attendant got the attention of the other passengers to share their congratulations with Okutoyi for bringing honour to Kenya.
After touching down, the plane was transformed into a flying celebration for the winner of Wimbledon, complete with cupcakes and champagne bottles.
Among those who sent congratulatory messages to Okutoyi was the Head of State, President Uhuru Kenyatta.
“President Kenyatta hailed Okutoyi’s historic victory as a momentous achievement that has not only lifted Kenya’s profile in world tennis but that will also inspire a generation of young players to excel in the sport,” a tweet from State House Kenya read.
Angela Okutoyi. Photo/The Star
Okutoyi was delighted with her feat in Wimbledon, which also saw another African set history. Despite losing in the women’s singles, Tunisia’s Ons Jabeuer had made history, becoming the first-ever African to play a Grand Slam final.
For Okutoyi, she beamed in the glory of being the Kenyan history setter. Since she was a small child, Okutoyi demonstrated enormous promise by beating 14-year-olds in tennis when she was only 12.
She won the 2018 Kigali Junior International Open and two J5 Nairobi competitions in 2019. The teen then entered the top 100 of the International Tennis Federation (ITF) Junior Rankings, and won two J4 Nairobi events in January 2021.
She also won the Africa Under-18 competition in November 2021.
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