01 Dec 2024

 Twelve-years-ago a baby girl was born in Francistown, and her mother named her Malak, an Arabic name, which means an angel.

True to her name, just recently,  Malak ‘Lak Lak’ Macheng displayed an angelic performance during the Confederation of African Tennis (CAT) Under 14 circuit at the National Tennis Centre in two legs as she made history by winning the first ever ITF/CAT Under 14 girls singles title back to back.

BOPA caught up with the cool, calm and collected Malak, who made it clear from the onset that she started playing tennis when she was only five-years-old and attributed her success to family friends Tinashe Phatshwane’s family, whom she accompanied to the court until she developed the love for tennis.

It was the Phatshwane’s who later supported Malak to go all the way with the sport of tennis until today.

Malak, a Nshakashogwe native, said when she turned six she started to take tennis serious under the tutelage of the late coach Mthandazo Sibanda.

She said although Sibanda had anticipated that she would have her first title when she was older, the turn of events proved that the foundation was strong.

However, Malak is not new to regional level competitions given that in May 2023 she won gold medals in singles and doubles at the Gauteng Province Junior Tournament, in South Africa in May.

Still in 2023, Malak won a bronze during the Confederation of Africa Tennis (CAT/ITF) Southern Region U-12 Team event held in Mozambique in July.

Malak represented the country in the continental level competitions in both Confederation of Africa Tennis (CAT/ITF) U-14, Africa Junior Championship and Confederation of Africa Tennis (CAT/ITF) Africa Team Event U-12, where she continued to better her rankings.

Realising her hard work, Malak was awarded two tennis rackets by Botswana Tennis Association in April during the ITF J30 tournament in Gaborone.

The award was to acknowledge her as one of the top female junior athletes in Botswana.

Talking about being the first girl in the history of Botswana tennis to win gold in U-14 ITF/CAT, she said she was happy that she managed to make history on home soil.

“Now what remains is to focus, because my desire is that in the next coming five years I make it to the Wimbledon Juniors, or train at the ITF’s African Regional Training Centre in Tunisia and I really pray that my doubles partner, Angel Chakanyuka will be beside me throughout the journey,” she said.

Malak, however, said things were never easy for tennis players, given that in their quest to better their rankings they had to travel a lot, and travel expenses had always been problematic.

“In addition, we have to keep ourselves mentally fit by eat the right food, especially during tournaments,” she said, adding that such too was expensive. BOPA