Kenyan girl wants to be next big thing in tennis

Daughter of former Kenyan top women’s player shows promise of making it to the top

Ndindi Ndunda, an 11-year-old Kenyan living in the United States, dreams of “building houses in Kenya for people who need them” but will probably have to wait while she’s engaged in her current pursuit to become the number-one female tennis player in the world.

And little Ndindi, whose mother Jane Ndunda was among Kenya’s top women tennis players in the 1980s, is on her way to achieving that goal.

Ndindi is top-ranked in the mid-Atlantic US tennis region among girls age 12 and younger. And although Ndindi stands only 4 feet, 10 inches tall, she regularly defeats girls much bigger and older than herself, earning her, in addition, the number four regional ranking for girls 14 and younger.

“She has excellent potential to succeed as a professional,” says Oliver Akli, a tennis instructor from Togo who coaches Ndindi at her school in the state of Maryland.

“I could see her turning professional when she’s 14,” adds Mark Santangelo, head teacher at the same school, which is part of the Tennis Centre at College Park.

“She makes it all look easy,” Akli adds. “And Ndindi doesn’t scare, no matter how big you are or how hard you hit the ball. She’s like Venus [Williams] – quick, quick, quick.”

International reputation

She has already earned an international reputation, having been one of two girls from the US chosen to compete in a tournament in Croatia when she was eight years old. Last week, she was due to play in the state of West Virginiain matches that could qualify her for a tournament in the Dominican Republic next October.

Ndindi also has a corporate sponsor – Babolat, the same company that sponsors Rafael Nadal, the best male player in the world. Babolat supplies her with rackets and tennis clothes and shoes.

“I like to win,” Ndindi says. “I work hard because I have high expectations.”

She appears to have inherited her talent and her drive from her mother who hails from Kangundo and a graduate of the University of Nairobi.

Jane taught herself to play, practicing constantly as a girl with a ball machine that her father had bought for her. And she had to overcome racial as well as athletic challenges.

“Back then,” she recalls, “everyone who played tennis was white.”

In addition to serving as a role model, Jane is contributing to her daughter’s development by feeding her home-cooked Kenyan meals. Ndindi lists ugali and pork chappati as her favourites.

“I was born with a lot of energy,” Ndindi says. “And I like eating my mom’s food so I stay strong.”

After a knee injury ended her own tennis career, Jane Ndunda came to the United States as a student in 1990, eventually earning two master’s degrees. A single mother, she works now as a software engineer for a company in the state of Virginia.

Putting on weight

Jane says she initially had no intention of pushing Ndindi and her other child, 13-year-old Mwaridi, to excel in tennis. In fact, it wasn’t until “I started putting on weight,” Jane says, that she herself began playing tennis again about six years ago. Ndindi, then 5, and her brother started banging the ball around as well with cheap rackets their mom had bought at a local discount store.

“I hoped they would get bored,” Jane says. “I didn’t want to become the sort of parent I dreaded.”

But Jane soon realised that both her children had exceptional tennis abilities.

“They started questioning everything I said, so I knew I needed to get help in teaching them,” Jane says.

Scholarships

Ndindi and Mwaridi both demonstrated enough skill and promise to be awarded scholarships to the Tennis Centre where they now practice four hours and attend classes three hours each school day.

Some of the academy’s lessons are conducted via the Internet, says head teacher Santangelo, in order to accommodate the tennis travel schedules for the academy’s 12 students.

Jane spends five hours a day on the clogged highways in the Washington, DC area, driving Ndindi and Mwaridi to and from the Tennis Centre and commuting to her own job. “Yes, we are crazy,” Jane declares. “But crazy about tennis!”