Tennis Kenya to host two high-profile tournaments for the first time in Nairobi
6th December 2023
The tennis body will host two W25 events offering a prize pool of $25,000 each.
- The first W25 event will take place at the Karen Country Club from 11-17 December.
- The second W25 event will take place from Nairobi Country Club from 18-24 December.
- Angella Okutoyi will headline the Kenyan cast in the two tournaments.
Tennis Kenya will play hosts to two high profile tournaments
for the very first time in its history when it stages back-to-back W25
International Tennis Federation (ITF) events at the Karen Country Club and the
Nairobi Club over two weeks.
Starting from 11-17 December 2023, 32 players from across the
globe will land at the Karen Country Club to compete for the prize pool of $25,000
(approximately 3.8million) that is on offer in the first of the two events.
Nairobi Club will then host the second W25 event from 18-24 December.
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According to a communique released by Tennis Kenya, 45
players and 10 coaches from 34 Countries including Kenya, Ukraine, Burundi,
USA, Australia, China, Sweden, Slovakia, Israel, Malaysia and Colombia among
other countries already confirmed their participation in the tournament.
Speaking during the launch, Tennis Kenya Secretary General Wanjiru Mbugua revealed that a record 400 players had entered into the event but the list had to be whittled down to only 64.
“This year we had a record breaking 400 entries.
Unfortunately, the draw has rules and we had to narrow it down to 64 players;
32 in the main draw and 32 in the qualifying draw,” she said.
Kenya’s top player Angella Okutoyi will headline the home
cast that is anticipated to have five players registering for the tournament
with Stacy yego, Alicia Owegi, Cynthia Wanjala and Roselida Asumwa making up
the pentagon.
“These events are extremely crucial for providing opportunities to players like Angella Okutoyi to be able to compete on home turf and thus gaining the very essential ITF and WTA points to be able to advance her career.
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This marks Tennis Kenya’s inaugural hosting of this event
which is an upgrade from the W15 tournament held last year,” Mbugua added.
The W25 is an ITF women’s tour event featuring WTA ranking
points and a prize money pool of $25,000.
The event will start with the qualifiers at Karen club on Sunday 10th December 2023 and Main draw will be at the same venue on Monday 11th December.
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