Golden-girl Angella Okutoyi returns home from US

Wimbledon junior doubles champion Angella Okutoyi returned home on Monday after a record-breaking year where she competed in the world’s four most important junior tournaments – Australian Open, Roland Garros, Wimbledon and US Open.

She said she is happy with her performance throughout the year which played a huge part in being awarded five-year full scholarship in US colleges.

The 2021 Africa Under-18 singles winner was offered scholarships by over 30 colleges in the USA. In the company of Tennis Kenya Secretary General Wanjiru Mbugua, she visited the University of Alabama, University of Central Florida, University of North Carolina and California in the last 10 days.

She hopes to choose one of them where she will pursue both tennis and a degree in Business Management.

“The US has the best colleges for sports. It’s really good to have those scholarships. I’m sure whichever I choose will help me in the future and in my tennis future. I mean it is good and I’m really looking forward to it,” said Okutoyi, who got the chance to see the great facilities at the universities they visited.

The 2018 Kenya Open champion is grateful for the opportunity she got to be at the US Open for the first time.

She thanked the International Tennis Federation (ITF), Grand Slam Player Development Programme (GSPDP) and her coach and family and everyone who has supported her.

“I enjoyed every single match I played,” explained the 18-year-old after her last Grand Slam as a junior where she reached the second round in both singles and doubles at the Flushing Meadows in New York.

Okutoyi, who won the J1 Repentigny doubles title with her partner Malwina Rowinska in Canada just before the US Open, now has a career-high ranking of 49 in ITF junior rankings after she climbed three places on September 12.

“I’m happy that I’m inside the top-50 now which is my career best.”