Kenya’s first Grand Slam champion Angella Okutoyi will hope to reciprocate the support she has been getting at home when the J1 Repentigny tournament serves off on Sunday at Larochelle Park in the suburbs of Montreal, Canada.
Okutoyi, 18, comes into the annual tournament boosted by memberships from Nairobi Club and Karen Country Club after her historic Wimbledon Doubles Junior Championships victory last month alongside Rose Marie Nijkamp from Netherlands.
J1 Repentigny welcomes back players from outside the US and Canada for the first time in three years due to covid-19 pandemic.
A few days before Okutoyi flew to Canada on August 23, Nairobi Club bestowed her with Junior Elected Membership until she turns 25 years old.
Okutoyi had a rewarding week before she left after Karen Country Club also awarded her and twin sister Roselida Asumwa a three-year membership each.
“I am really excited about this tournament. I just want to build up my confidence in readiness for the US Open Junior Championships,” the Africa Under-18 2021 champion told Nation Sport.
Okutoyi, whose tennis idol is decorated American great Serena Wiliams, also won the LG/SJAK Sports personality award for the month of July.
She is on the Grand Slam Player Development Programme (GSPDP) together with South African Connor Henry Van Schalkwyk and Constantinos Koshis from Cyprus who are competing in the boys’ category. They are trained by Juan Manuel and Carlos Vale.
Okutoyi became the first Kenyan girl since 1978 to compete at a major during the Australian Open Junior championship in Melbourne in January this year.
She entered history books as the first Kenyan girl to record a Junior Grand Slam win after defeating Italian Federica Urgesi 2-1 sets in the first round and wrote more history by scalping Australian Zara Larke 2-1 in the second round before losing 2-0 to Serbian Lola Radivojevic in the third round.
She has competed at the Roland Garros Juniors in France.
The US Open Junior Championships will take place on September 4 to 10 in New York.
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