NAIROBI, Kenya, Mar 19 — As Kenya prepares to send its first official tennis delegation to France, the focus is shifting from the scoreboard to the very ground the athletes play on.
For Engineer Lawrence Bigot, Deputy Treasurer at Tennis Kenya and a key member of the traveling team, the mission is clear: to bridge the expertise gap in clay court technology and spearhead the development of world-class public facilities in Kenya.
While Kenya has a long history of tennis, the technical knowledge required to construct and maintain professional-grade clay courts, the hallmark of French tennis, has remained elusive.
“In Kenya, mostly what we lack is prior knowledge of how to build clay courts. The best way to learn is to go and see how people are doing it out there and come and implement the same technology here,” Bigot noted.
By visiting the iconic Roland-Garros facility, the Kenyan delegation aims to gain hands-on experience in the right way to build these surfaces from the first brick.
This benchmarking mission is seen as essential for a country where most existing clay courts are currently held in private hands, often limiting access for the broader public.
The centerpiece of Tennis Kenya’s long-term strategy is the establishment of a state-of-the-art public tennis facility at Kasarani.
While private clubs have anchored the sport for nearly a century, Bigot emphasizes that the future of the game depends on high-quality public infrastructure.
“We can’t say private clubs have not done a good job; they have done a great job so far. But looking into the future, we need to do our own public courts. And when we do them, we will start doing them the right way from the first time,” Bigot said.
The partnership with the French Tennis Federation (FFT) is designed to be a two-way street.
While Kenyans travel to France for technical education and junior player development, French experts and players are expected to visit Kenya later in 2026.
This exchange aims to position Kenya as a growing hub for international tennis development in Africa, ensuring that the technology imported from France benefits a new generation of players across all socio-economic backgrounds.
With the official flag-off led by French Ambassador Arnaud Suquet, the journey to France represents more than just a trip; it is a technical foundation for the future of Kenyan sports.
