{"id":10783,"date":"2020-07-07T18:20:38","date_gmt":"2020-07-07T18:20:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.com\/kenya\/?p=10783"},"modified":"2020-07-07T18:20:38","modified_gmt":"2020-07-07T18:20:38","slug":"kenya-open-champion-kibet-ready-to-roar-to-grand-slam-arena","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/sport\/kenya-open-champion-kibet-ready-to-roar-to-grand-slam-arena","title":{"rendered":"Kenya Open champion Kibet ready to roar to Grand Slam arena"},"content":{"rendered":"

AfricaPress-Kenya:<\/strong> He is a two-time Davis Cup and Kenya Open winner<\/em><\/p>\n

He is upbeat of making it to Europe contests despite missing Euro\/Africa Group II tournament earlier this year.<\/em><\/p>\n

It took four years for Ibrahim Kibet to end his four-year wait for a major title when he won the 2018 Kenya Open after shocking top seed Ismael Changawa 7-5, 6-4.<\/p>\n

Kibet, who boast superb groundstrokes and endurance, always unleashes sterling shows on the court.<\/p>\n

But beyond his wide smile that radiates with milky teeth, stands a 24-year-old man with lofty dreams \u2013 he longs to compete at the European Championships within a few years.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter many unsuccessful attempts, I chose not to give up and it paid dividends in 2018 when I won the Kenya Open title. I have a self-belief that slid me to victory.<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cIn the same spirit, I will strive to attain my dream of playing in the world championships,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Kibet said he is ready to start afresh after taking time off during the coronavirus pandemic which, he says, is a blessing in disguise \u2013more importantly \u2013coming after suffering Davis Cup heartbreak in Indonesia earlier this year.<\/p>\n

Kenya’s hope of featuring in the Euro\/Africa Group 2 tournament later in September this year were shattered in March after Ismael Changawa and Ibrahim Kibet lost 6-7, 7-6, 7-6 to Christopher Rungkat and David Susanto of Indonesia in the best-of-five Euro\/Africa Group 2 playoffs at the Gelora Bung Karno tennis court in Jarkarta.<\/p>\n

The last time Kenya qualified for Euro\/Africa Group 2 was in 1992 where they were eliminated in the semi finals, falling just one match shy of the World Group 1 play offs but Kibet is confident of replaying the feat next year.<\/p>\n

\u201cLosing the opportunity to take part in the Euro\/Africa Group 2 tournament scheduled for September this year was my lowest moment but I am not giving up. I have to make it. I believe that with proper training nothing is impossible,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Kenya Open defending champion Ibrahim Kibet.\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Kibet, the Kenya seed three, now focusses on qualifying and, perhaps, winning the postponed ITF 15K Futures Tournament and with a dream of making it to one of the Grand Slams in future.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have been training and working hard with individual training under guidance of my coaches with hope of winning the Futures Tournament.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt will be great if I qualify for one of the Grand Slams, with Wimbledon as my dream competition because I play well on the grass,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Kibet is looking forward to defend his Kenya Open title and aims to win his third Davis Cup crown, having won the awards in 2018 and 2019.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy main goal this year is to finish the year as Kenya\u2019s tennis top seed if all goes well in post coronavirus pandemic. I know it won\u2019t be easy with Changawa\u2019s consistency but I believe in myself.\u201d<\/p>\n

He started playing tennis at the age of eight while studying at Mombasa Primary School after being influenced by his grandfather and trained by his coach and mentor Lawrence Karanja.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

AfricaPress-Kenya: He is a two-time Davis Cup and Kenya Open winner He is upbeat of making it to Europe contests despite missing Euro\/Africa Group II tournament earlier this year. It took four years for Ibrahim Kibet to end his four-year wait for a major title when he won the 2018 Kenya Open after shocking top […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":10782,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,8,17],"tags":[4539,4540],"class_list":["post-10783","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-homepage-english","category-sport","tag-grand-slam","tag-ibrahim-kibet"],"yoast_head":"\nKenya Open champion Kibet ready to roar to Grand Slam arena - kenya<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"He is a two-time Davis Cup and Kenya Open winnerHe is upbeat of making it to Europe contests despite missing Euro\/Africa Group II tournament\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/sport\/kenya-open-champion-kibet-ready-to-roar-to-grand-slam-arena\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Kenya Open champion Kibet ready to roar to Grand Slam arena\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"He is a two-time Davis Cup and Kenya Open winnerHe is upbeat of making it to Europe contests despite missing Euro\/Africa Group II tournament\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/sport\/kenya-open-champion-kibet-ready-to-roar-to-grand-slam-arena\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"kenya\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-07-07T18:20:38+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/kenya\/sites\/28\/2020\/07\/wzit5z5h94mvebyj5f038b3b9defd.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"800\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"550\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/sport\/kenya-open-champion-kibet-ready-to-roar-to-grand-slam-arena#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/sport\/kenya-open-champion-kibet-ready-to-roar-to-grand-slam-arena\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Kenya Open champion Kibet ready to roar to Grand Slam arena\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-07-07T18:20:38+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/sport\/kenya-open-champion-kibet-ready-to-roar-to-grand-slam-arena\"},\"wordCount\":522,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/sport\/kenya-open-champion-kibet-ready-to-roar-to-grand-slam-arena#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/kenya\/sites\/28\/2020\/07\/wzit5z5h94mvebyj5f038b3b9defd.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Grand Slam\",\"Ibrahim Kibet\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"homepage-english\",\"sport\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/sport\/kenya-open-champion-kibet-ready-to-roar-to-grand-slam-arena#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/sport\/kenya-open-champion-kibet-ready-to-roar-to-grand-slam-arena\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/sport\/kenya-open-champion-kibet-ready-to-roar-to-grand-slam-arena\",\"name\":\"Kenya Open champion Kibet ready to roar to Grand Slam arena - 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