Tennis Kenya President Wanjiru Mbugua-Karani on changing the game on and off the court: “I want to create pathways”

Wanjiru Mbugua-Karani understands what it's like to feel inadequate or even to question one's own abilities.

She found it difficult to overcome the profound challenges that many women encounter when they are required to take on leadership roles.

This is despite the former Kenyan tennis champion being a strong proponent of women pursuing administrative and development positions in sports.

"I would consistently rally women to step into sports administration, but when it came to me, I would say, 'I have no interest in politics,” Mbugua-Karani tells Olympics.com, explaining the pathway she took into sports leadership.

“Then somehow you get there, you get the confidence, you're able to make decisions, and then you realise, ‘Oh, I can keep doing this!’”

For Mbugua-Karani, breaking through meant getting over the feeling of not being good enough and taking on new responsibilities.

In 2023, she was elected Vice President of the Confederation of African Tennis. That same year, she was also named CEO of Team Kenya for the Paris 2024 Olympics.

“It was the scariest thing ever. First and foremost, I had never been to the Olympics," she said. “But managing Team Kenya gave me a great perspective and confidence of what it is to run a federation in Kenya. Last year, I felt I was ready.”

In December 2025, Mbugua-Karani was elected unopposed as the president of Tennis Kenya, the first woman to serve the federation in that capacity.

“The most surprising thing for me is how many people have come up to tell me, we believe in you. And sometimes, I'm like, ‘Are they really trusting me to take them to the next level?’"

Kenya’s Angella Okutoyi, rising from an orphanage to tennis glory: 'My breakthrough is quite a good story'

Wanjiru Mbugua-Karani on moving from the tennis court to the boardroom: “I can do more things”

Mbugua-Karani is on her way to becoming a powerhouse in Kenyan sports administration. Born in Nairobi in 1974, her journalist father, Bedan Mbugua, introduced her to tennis when she was 10.

There were fewer girls playing tennis then, and she remembers training and playing with boys, but that didn’t hold her back. In her junior career, Mbugua-Karani rose to number five in Africa, featuring in 15 Federation Cup matches.

When her playing days were over, she served as a coach and a junior tennis initiative coordinator. Her efforts significantly contributed to growing the game at the grassroots level in her country.

“As a player, I never imagined that's where I would end up,” she told Olympics.com. “I loved development and event planning, but going into administration and crossing over gave me the confidence to say, ‘I can do more things!'”

Serving as Secretary General was at the heart of her tennis life for a while, and Mbugua-Karani did so with a style that influenced her election to a continental role.

Still, Mbugua-Karani, like many women in leadership positions, suffered from imposter syndrome even though she was a frontrunner to serve in her local federation, where she has been active throughout her adult life.

“When I had this opportunity to be the president, I felt the pressure,” she said of a moment she compares to jitters before a big match.

“But so many people believed in me. I did not imagine that would be the case. People within and outside tennis, trusting me to take them to the next level… I still feel that pressure, but the pressure now is good.

“Because it's no longer just managing a development pathway or as a coach just managing a player, their schedule, their competition. I am managing 10 different pillars of Tennis Kenya. I have to look at the resources, and constantly ask, ‘Can we afford it?’”

Karani-Mbugua seeking equity for all

Mbugua-Karani, assumed her new responsibilities at a moment when tennis was rising in Kenya. It has been in the spotlight with Angella Okutoyi becoming a powerful ambassador for the future of the sport.

The robust junior tennis programmes Mbugua-Karani championed years ago have helped produce the country's first ITF world tennis tour singles champion.

At the 2022 Australian Open, the rising star became the first woman from East Africa to win a match at a junior Grand Slam tournament.

Building on the success of Okutoyi, who is now 22, Mbugua-Karani wants to strengthen pathways across the game. Her term is still in its infancy, but her immediate ambition is to create equality for women and girls, both on and off the court.

“In Kenya, we haven’t reached the place where sponsors feel that investing in women’s sports is that good, even though women athletes are doing great things. From my experience, women are more doers than talkers, but it’s a world where the talkers get more,” she said, referencing Okutoyi, who is currently crowdfunding online to fund her switch to become a full-time professional.

As the world marks International Women’s Day this month, Mbugua-Karani is rallying behind the power of storytelling to challenge the status quo.

“I think all athletes should be given that kind of publicity or exposure in all aspects without selling the person and the sport, like this is a tennis player, not because she wears nice outfits, but because she's great and outstanding on court,” added Mbugua-Karani, who is also juggling her career in sport with being a mother of three.

“Our games may be slightly different, but every player is putting in 100 per cent, whether male or female; the effort level is the same. So, I believe that needs to come out in your storytelling. If you are talking about men who are passing great shots, that too should be the focus for women and not only grabbing more attention because a player was emotional.”

Now that she has broken the invisible ceiling and progressed into a decision-making position, it’s not just about assuming a leadership role. Mbugua-Karani wants to make a difference and leave a legacy.

“I want, at the end of this, for everybody to say, I got an opportunity. I got an opportunity in whatever it is that I want to do in any kind of tennis pathway – be it girls, wheelchair tennis. But it's not just about players, I would like to make sure our coaches, our umpires and all have the opportunities to get better.”

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