July 10, (THEWILL) – Angella Okutoyi, the first player from Kenya to win a Grand Slam, thinks that her girls’ doubles victory at Wimbledon may inspire a nation.
For the title, the 18-year-old and her Dutch partner, Rose Marie Nijkmamp, defeated the Canadians Kayla Cross and Victoria Mboko, 3-6, 6-4, and 11-9. Since they were unseeded and Okutoyi had never played on grass before last week, when she lost in the girls’ singles opening round, their victory came as a great surprise.
Speaking of their sensational victory post-match, Okutoyi said: “It’s great for me to be the first Kenyan to win a Grand Slam and to reach a final in a Grand Slam. I’m now able to inspire most players from Kenya and Africa. I’m able to put a belief in them that they can also achieve it.
“It doesn’t matter the background you come from or where you’ve been, it’s just the belief and the dream that you can achieve it. Now I believe that we’ll have more Kenyans here for sure. This is my first time in Wimbledon and now I’m starting to love grass.
Okutoyi aspires for her achievement to increase interest in the sport in her home nation. She said: “We don’t have much recognition of players from Kenya. In Kenya, they focus more on athletics, not in tennis, generally. But now that I’ve been able to win this, most people will now recognise that players from Kenya will see we can do this. And that’s what I’ve always wanted to do for my country.”
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
