Who is Angella Okutoyi? Meet Kenyas 18-year-old Wimbledon champion

The 18-year-old Africa Junior tennis champion and her Dutch partner, Rose Marie Nijkamp, won the girls' doubles crown at the Junior Championship in London.

The pair beat Canadians Kayla Cross and Victoria Mboko 3-6, 6-4, and 11-9 in the Grand Slamfinals held at the All England Lawn Tennis Club.

After the win, Ms. Okutoyi said: “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."

Her participation in the match was historic in itself; she was the first ever Kenyan to play a Grand Slam final.

Born in January 2004, Okutoyi’s rise to the top has been nothing short of spectacular, with back-to-back victories over formidable opponents and a bright future ahead of her.

She kicked off 2022 on high note after scooping a 2-1 victory over Federica Urgesi of Italy in the main draw of the Australian Open Junior championships’ girls singles on January 23.

Fresh off her win at the Africa Junior Championship in 2021, this was her debut at the Australian Open, which was held at the Melbourne Park.

The Africa under-18 champion thrashed a seasoned opponent 2-1 (6-4, 7-6 and 6-3) in two hours and 13 minutes. 

This made her the second Kenyan, after Paul Wekesa, to play in the championships. 

After defeating three-time former champion Shufaa Changawa 6-1, 7-6 at Nairobi Club in 2018, Okutoyi, who is ranked 61st in the International Tennis Federation (ITF) Junior Rankings, became the youngest player to win the Kenya Open at the age of 14.

Okutoyi won the Africa Junior Championship on Clay Court (AJCCC) Under 14 singles in Algeria in 2018, and then went on to win singles and doubles at the ITF East African Under 18 Junior Circuit, ITF Nairobi Junior Open, and Eastern Africa Zonal Championships Under 16 in 2019.

She has previously cited her background as one of her major inspirations in her tennis journey. Okutoyi and her sister were raised by their grandmother as their mother died in childbirth. 

She says her desire is to make the most out of her career and change the life of her family.

“I didn’t grow up having much in our family so just being on this court gives me the drive to one day make my family proud  and change our background to live in a good place… I want to do anything to make my grandmother proud,” Otukoyi said in a previous interview.