Niamey (12) and Dante Marcus (16) are siblings united by their love for tennis, each competing in different age groups and at various levels.
This year, both proudly represented Namibia, carrying with them not only national pride but also the hope that their passion for the sport would soon open new doors and opportunities.
Signed to Central Tennis Club, Niamey’s strength is speed, with which she gets to the ball, as well as her backhand stroke.
“I started playing tennis competitively three years ago, but due to other commitments, I could not take part in as many tournaments this year as I would have liked,” she said.
She won the Junior Masters in her age group in 2024 and travelled to Mozambique this year to represent Namibia in a team competition for the first time.
“It would be great if one day, tennis allows me to get a scholarship to a good university,” she said when asked about her goals as a tennis player. Niamey would love to take part in more international competitions and make her country proud. She has decided to invest in warm-up, rallying, and then a lot of practice matches, adding that balancing tennis and school isn’t always easy, but she tries to dedicate certain times and days to particular activities.
She is already doing netball, but besides that, Niamey has an interest and love for track and field events. Her favourite tennis player is Coco Gauff, and locally looks up to her brother, Dante, who is under the guidance of coach Johan Theron.
“I started playing tennis competitively four years ago and started playing to improve my hand-eye coordination, but found myself falling in love with the sport,” said Dante.
Some of his biggest achievements include coming second in the Junior Masters under 16 in 2024 and having the privilege of representing Namibia at the Zonal under 16 competitions in January, placing 14th.
“I achieved an all-time high ranking of two in Namibia under 16 and also represented Namibia in the Region 5 Youth Games U20 event, placing 15th. The most memorable match I played was earlier this year when I beat a former Namibian Davis Cup player 3-6, 7-5, 6-3 after a three hour and 30-minute battle,” he said.
Dante is signed to Sport Klub Windhoek, and his short-term goal is to get a scholarship to a college in the United States and continue playing and practicing hard.
“I practise four times a week, focusing on all aspects of my game, as well as a private lesson once a week to fine tune my shots. It is very challenging to balance both sports and academics. This causes me to put in a lot of late-night shifts to be able to do it all. My love for the game keeps me motivated to continue improving,” he stated.