Kenya’s Angella Okutoyi, rising from an orphanage to tennis glory: 'My breakthrough is quite a good story'

A little over 10 years ago, it would have been hard to imagine that the young girl hanging out at tennis courts with barely enough to eat would become one of sub-Saharan Africa’s top female players.

Angella Okutoyi is now Kenya's best tennis player, and her struggle to deal with adversity continues to drive her rise in the sport.

The teenager made history in 2022 when she teamed up with Dutch player Rose Marie Nijkamp to take the Wimbledon girls' doubles title.

That saw Okutoyi become the first Black African to win a junior Grand Slam.

Tennis was an escape for Okutoyi and her twin sister Roselida Asumwa with the pair enduring traumatic and difficult childhoods which included a spell in an orphanage.

Now, they are inspiring African youngsters to chase their dreams.

“My journey has [inspired] and is already inspiring so many young kids, and I can show them that they can also do it," Okutoyi told Olympics.com from her home in Nairobi where she was raised by her grandmother.

"Most people know that tennis is a rich sport, and I didn't come from a rich family. So, me being able to break through, it's quite a good story.”

Last July, Okutoyi became her country's first ITF World Tennis Tour singles tournament winner in the ITF W15 event Monastir, Tunisia.

She added to that success on home soil in Nairobi in December, beating Germany's former world number 250 Lena Papadakis to claim her first ITF W25 title.

The 19-year-old is now aiming to emulate her tennis idol Serena Williams and, one day, qualify for the Olympics.

Tennis a welcome distraction for Angella Okutoyi and her twin sister

Okutoyi and her twin sister Asumwa were placed in an orphanage after their mother tragically died during childbirth.

But after a brief stay, their maternal grandmother Mary Ndonda chose to raise the months-old twins, an arduous undertaking for the elderly lady who worked as a cleaner at a convent in Kenya's capital Nairobi.

The two girls lived in a one-roomed house which they shared with Ndonda and three other children. And Okutoyi’s earliest memories were dark and difficult.

“My life growing up wasn't easy,” she told Olympics.com. “I remember our family we had no money, just my grandmother who was a widower, taking care of five kids.

“There was one time her daughter was ill, and she had to use oxygen. Allan, my uncle, and my Aunt Cynthia would go to school. Rosie and I were still very young, but we had to take care of her sick daughter since her mum had to work to find money.”

Osumwa added, "We only had our grandmother who provided everything for us. Sometimes it was hard for us to get a meal at night. We only maybe [ate] breakfast or dinner, one of them.”

“It was tough, but it was a good one,” Okutoyi chips in with a chuckle. “I believe the hard times helped us reach where we are.”

Despite that difficult start to life, the twins soon had tennis as an outlet.

The convent where they lived had a school with tennis courts, and the then four-year-olds would pass most of their time playing a sport in which some members of their family were well acquainted.

“That's how I chose tennis as it was the only sport I was able to see," said Okutoyi. "It was one sport that was always around me. Even before that, our family was playing tennis. My uncle played tennis, my aunt, even my mum played tennis before she passed away. I believe it's just in us.

“I can remember holding a big racket and wearing casual shoes and casual clothes, walking to the tennis court and playing,”

Her twin Osumwa, who hopes to emulate her idol Venus Williams, continued, “It was tough for us at the beginning because we didn't have the right equipment for us to really play well, but we managed to work with what we had."

The making of Kenya’s top tennis player

Okutoyi had few opportunities to play tennis apart from occasional sessions hosted a slum-based organisation at their primary school’s sports ground.

But her first big break was being selected to join Kenya's Junior Tennis Initiative, for children 14 and under, supported by the ITF.

In 2014, she relocated to neighbouring Burundi, and was based at the ITF East Africa Regional Training Centre until civil unrest forced her to return to Kenya.

“The sponsorship from the ITF really supported me since I was nine or 10 years old up until now," said Okutoyi. "Tennis is not considered a popular sport here in Kenya, so it was not easy for me to break through to where I am today. It took a lot of sacrifice, a lot of hard work, dedication, and a lot of hardships.”

Okutoyi proved she was worthy of the chance. She won the Under-14 African Championships and became the youngest winner of the Kenya Open singles title in 2018.

She admitted, “I really treasure the African championships, when I won the Under-18 and Under-14 [titles]. Why I chose these two, because the Under-14 gave me a lot of opportunities to travel to Europe and play a lot of tournaments. When I was young, I didn't have that that chance.

“And the Under-18 championships, that's the tournament that gave me the chance I got to play in all the four Grand Slams.”

Angella Okutoyi on making history at the Australian Open and Wimbledon

The tennis prodigy made history at the 2022 Australian Open by becoming the first Kenyan girl to post a Junior Grand Slam match-win, beating Italy's Federica Urgesi in three sets.

Then, as a member of the Grand Slam Player Development Programme/ITF Touring Team, she and Nijkamp went all the way to the Wimbledon girls' doubles final where they defeated Canadian pair Kayla Cross and Victoria Mboko 11-9 in a champions' tiebreak.

That triumph sparked celebrations in Kenya and raised women’s tennis to another level in a country best known for its middle and long-distance runners.

“I didn't know I was the first [Kenyan girl] to reach round three at the Australian Open because I just went there to play my best and give everything I have. Then Wimbledon, that was really big…” reflected Kenya’s new tennis sensation.

She added: “Being able to break through, it's quite a good story and a good thing to show the world and to show kids from Kenya, and Africa.

"Most of the kids that are now starting to play tennis don’t come from well-off families, and I am able to show them that they can also do it. They just need to believe in themselves, their dreams and always have this positive mindset that everything will be well.”

Tennis is still very much an elite sport in the East African nation. There are no public tennis courts or clubs in Nairobi, and accessibility to equipment remains difficult.

But the twins' exploits have been a huge boost to the Kenyan tennis scene.

Their celebrity status was raised yet again at the end of 2022 when they earned American college scholarships. Okutoyi is a sophomore at Auburn University, while her sister is on the tennis team at Cowley College in Kansas.

“It's a good thing to have your sister playing the same sport as you,” said Okutoyi. “You help each other out and motivate each other.”

Inspired by Serena Williams' ‘fighting spirit’ and Faith Kipyegon

Okutoyi, the trailblazer, remains grounded as she continues to rise.

She even keeps a childhood picture of herself aged six, to remind her of her life’s journey.

“I like to see my younger self and remind me of where I came from. And to just give me that extra push and extra courage that, ‘That's where you were and this is where you are now,'” she told Olympics.com.

“The tough life taught me a lot. It taught me to be disciplined, not to have an ego and just be humble. It taught me gratitude.

“It also taught me to also care for others and share the little things I have. Because at that time, we didn't have someone to share things with us.”

Looking inward has helped her prevail both personally and professionally, but she still looks to many others, like childhood idol Serena Williams and track stars Faith Kipyegon and Ferdinand Omanyala.

“When she [Serena] was still playing, her fighting spirit was so good. I believe my game style is like hers, aggressive baseliner. And she's a fighter, and I'm a fighter on court and I have the willingness to do more, and I believe she does. She inspires me a lot.

"And Faith Kipyegon, she broke two records as a mother, and that's really a good thing because it gives me that motivation and courage. And Ferdinand Omanyala, I like how he's dedicated, and humble. He just fights.”

The tennis prodigy hopes to repeat her success on the ITF Tour at Olympic level in the future.

“I don’t think I watched the Olympics probably until when I was in the Under-14 team, when I played my first All-African Games which was a qualifier to an Olympics. That's when I knew Olympics is a thing, and it's a big tournament, like a Grand Slam.

“Since then, my dream has always been to play at the Olympics, to represent Kenya.”