Chapepa heads off to Kenya for two ITF junior competitions

Ngqwele Dube, Sports Correspondent
AFTER raking in her first International Tennis Federation Juniors ranking points on home soil last month, up-and-coming tennis star, Kudzai Chapepa (13) will be hoping to get more points in Nairobi, Kenya where she will take part in two ITF junior events.

Chapepa will head into the first J5 ITF Juniors on Monday seeded 18th in the main draw, according to the acceptance list. This will be her first ITF tourney being seeded in the main draw as she previously had to take part in qualifiers in the three events she has taken part in. Her coach, Thesly Mufunda said she has been preparing hard for the tournament following her performances at the two ITF events held in Bulawayo last month. He said she will be aiming at raking more points from the two events.

“With a good draw she can possibly come with some away points, she has been working really hard in preparation.

“This is her first time on clay and we actually had to prepare a makeshift portion at BAC in preparation for the clay because the movement is different than hard courts,” said Mufunda.

He said Chapepa had not anticipated earning points in only her second tournament in the ITF juniors circuit as they had planned getting the first point by the end of the year and only after 10 events.

Mufunda said at this stage it’s more about adapting to the juniors’ circuit and getting used to the competitiveness that comes at that level.

“I don’t want to pressure her at the moment as we allow her to adapt to this new level but she has the passion and a high work ethic that I believe will drive her to want to achieve more.

“She now wants to be part of Zimbabwe’s Billie Jean King Cup team next year and in the long run to be a grand slam champion and I believe with her work ethic and passion, the sky is the limit,” he said.

According to the J5 ITF Nairobi Junior Open I acceptance list, other Zimbabweans expected to take part in tournament are Sharne Tapera who is seeded 15th in the boys’ section with Rufaro Magari, seeded second, Nicole Matukutire (15th seed) featuring in the girls’ category.