Malak Macheng Tennis Gold Unearthed in Francistown
Source : Kutlwano
Author : Pako Lebanna
Location : Gaborone
Event : Interview
The city of Francistown has its modern history intertwined with the Southern African Gold Rush of the 1800s still immortalised in some of its landmarks and the names they bear.
Named after Daniel Francis of the Tati Concessions Limited, which prospected for gold around the time of the establishment of Francistown in 1897, the city has one of its prominent inner city roads, Blue Jacket Street and the historic neighbourhood of Bluetown, named after Australian gold prospector Sam “Blue Jacket” Anderson.
From the streets of Bluetown, a different type of gem, Malak Macheng, a youngster still entering her teenage years, is poised to become a tennis star and possibly give Botswana gold in the international tennis courts.
At this year’s 44th Botswana National Sports Council (BNSC) Awards, the 13-year-old won two prestigious awards, the Junior Athlete of the Year and Public Athlete of the Year.
Humble and polite to a fault, Malak, accompanied by her mother, Bonnie Macheng, takes it all in her stride, expressing humility and gratitude for the honours.
“I was pretty happy, even though I did not show emotion. The one that took me by surprise was the Public Athlete of the Year since there was voting and there were these other big athletes. I felt it was a tough list and I’m still in disbelief,” she says.
As she settles into a couch at Kutlwano Magazine Photo Studio in the Mass Media Complex, Malak details her background.
“I was born on March 27, 2012 at Nyangabgwe Hospital, Francistown. I started tennis when I was five years old, then started training more seriously at the age of six. I had other sports that I was doing when I was younger, such as swimming, softball and hockey. But I then decided to focus on tennis, because I started liking it more and wanted to be a professional one day,” Macheng reveals.
Starting out at John Mackenzie Primary School in Francistown doing the various sports, her decision to focus on tennis would later yield fruit as national selectors noticed her talent and she earned Botswana colours at junior level.
“When I was aged 11, which was in 2023, I started playing for the national team, under 12 level and I played my first international tournament.
We got third place, first was South Africa, second place Zimbabwe and third us. We got a wild card to play at the African Junior Championships (AJC) in Morocco. It was a pretty big deal, because for the girls’ team, we were all 11 years old and the AJC is a big tournament,” she says.
The following year, in 2024 at the Southern African tournament held once more in Mozambique, Malak and her team retained third place, and she partook in the AJC this time hosted by the Botswana Tennis Association at the National Tennis Centre at Notwane, Gaborone.
“It was really a good tournament. A lot of countries came and I enjoyed hosting than going to play in another country. When we are in our own country, we know the courts, the weather; outside you can play on clay courts and have to adjust to the weather. But here, it is the hard courts and the same temperature, we are used to,” she says.
She has also been playing individual Confederation of African Tennis (CAT) and International Tennis Federation (ITF) tournaments and her dream is to eventually graduate into the professional field of the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) circuit.
Mentored by various tennis coaches, including the late Mthandazo Sibanda, Malak is currently under the tutelage of former national tennis star Phenyo Matong.
“One of my first coaches was Coach Sibanda, and I had a couple of other coaches in Francistown, coaches Lesh and Archie. Last year I moved to Gaborone, and started working with Phenyo Matong.
He works on the different aspects of the game. If you have a problem with your serve but your strokes are fine, he removes you from the rest of the group so you work on a basket of serves. Sometimes he is hard on us, but we all realise he wants us to be good players,” Malak says.
She adds that she is working on balancing the physical and emotional aspects of how she approaches her game.
“Tennis is not only physical, it is also mental. I had to learn to be mentally strong and also work on the physical aspects of my game because tennis is not timed to a set time. Games can go on for five hours until there is a winner,” she says.
Other than her coaches, she is also grateful to her peers for continuing to motivate her to work harder.
“My teammates do motivate me; Camila Seetso, who taught me never to give up and Angela Chakanyuka, who has taught me that sometimes you have to hit the ball hard. Then there is Esi Molefe, who would just push you to move faster, to give more of yourself, like he is a coach,” Malak reveals.
Serena Williams and Novak Djokovic are the international tennis stars she’s admired growing up.
Along with the older tennis sibling pair Ntungamili and Naledi Raguin, who also hail from Francistown and whose family comes from the very same village of Nshakazhokwe that Malak’s family originates, the North East seems to be producing gems set to soar to greater heights.
Malak’s mother is undeniably proud.
“Tennis, especially being an individual sport, needs parental support,” Bonnie, the mother chips in.
She says Malak was excelling in every sport when she was younger, be it swimming, tennis and hockey.
“It was her friends’ mother, Rosinah Phatshwane, who was with me in the John Mackenzie Parents Teachers Association who realised how much Malak had tennis talent and insisted we should push her to take it very seriously and she even supported us financially for that,” she said.
Bonnie was proud to see her daughter play in her first individual tournament in Angola in 2023, and believes one day, Malak will soar onto the grand slam courts of Wimbledon (All England Tennis Championships), Roland Garros (French Open), Flushing Meadows (US Open) and the Rod Laver Arena (Australian Open).
“I want to see her go all the way, the dream is to see her playing professional tennis, to her see at Wimbledon one day. I know it would not be easy, but we are determined, ready and invested to give it our all,” Bonnie states.
Mom and daughter express their gratitude to local retail outlet, Choppies Enterprises Limited, who sponsor Malak’s travel and accommodation to tournaments, including flights to external competitions, as well as with equipment, bottled water and energy drinks. ENDS
