Expectations high for Kenyan quartet as Billie Jean King tourney nears

The 2023 Billie Jean King Africa Group III tournament is set to take place at the Nairobi Club from 12-17 June 2023 with Kenya hoping to use its home advantage to gain promotion.

This is the first time the tournament is being hosted for African teams alone, giving countries a better chance at qualifying for the Group II of the global competition.

Okutoyi hoping to guide Kenya to Billie Jean King promotion

Tennis Kenya (TK) held a media briefing on Wednesday 31 May indicating that it is all systems go for the week-long competition that will pit 12 nations against each other.

Morocco and Tunisia represent Africa Zone I, Nigeria and Ghana from Zone II, Uganda, Burundi, Kenya, Seychelles from East Africa and Zone V representatives Botswana, Mauritius, Namibia and Zimbabwe.

“The matches will be played every day from 10 am Monday with the preliminary matches set to run until Friday. Two groups A and B play the preliminaries in a round-robin format and the playoffs set for Saturday.

The top teams in each group meet for the winners’ clash with the victor in that playoff set for promotion to Euro II while he bottom-placed teams compete for survival from relegation to Group IV. Each tie will consist of two singles and one double,” TK Secretary General Wanjiru Karani said.

The SG says hosting the Billie Jean King Cup in Africa is historic adding that the impact will be huge in Africa as it will ignite tennis in Kenya and empower African players. Previously, the tournament was held in Europe involving teams from Africa and Europe.

“African countries struggled to play in Europe because it is very expensive. Participation used to be 50 percent, but the new format starting in 2023 has 100 percent participation,” she added, disclosing that Tennis Kenya lobbied for an African group to be hosted in Africa and Kenya won the bid to host the tournament.  

Federation president James Kenani said hosting the Billie Jean King Cup will popularize tennis and inspire its growth in the country. He, however, bemoaned the lack of help from the government.

“For the last two years, Tennis Kenya did not get any financial assistance from the government. The government has also not started construction of the 26 public tennis courts at Moi Sports Centre Kasarani despite the pledge made by the former President Uhuru Kenyatta in 2019,” he said.

Nine clay courts are being constructed and are expected to be ready by next week ahead of the extravaganza which is part of 2024 Paris Olympics qualifiers.