Why Ismail Changawa is more than just a tennis star

Covid-19 may have disrupted the lives of sportsmen and women, but for Kenya's top ranked male tennis player Ismail Changawa, it is the perfect opportunity to venture more into his other love, music.

Ismael is transferring his court energy to the music studio to not only sustain himself during the coronavirus pandemic, but also feed his secret passion of being an entertainer.

Similar to most creatives worldwide, Changawa, currently ranked 1738 in the world, has cast his rod into the Youtube waters, uploading his music via his channel and in return gaining popularity and monetary value as he waits for sporting activities to resume. 

Changawa says that the pandemic has given him a chance to put more focus and time into his music passion since he can be in the studio everyday, but maintains that this is not a move to put tennis in the backseat for good.

"I got my interest in music while studying in America and have always wanted to give it the same energy and time as I do to tennis after getting great reviews on my talent from doing different cover songs.

The pandemic has just given me more time to understand my love for music and explore all its avenues, but I still give tennis practice the time that it needs. We are lucky to have the Public Service Club opening its doors for us to train since all the other clubs have been prohibited due to the law against public gatherings," said Changawa during a phone interview.

'Love is a drug'

The 24-year-old is a four-time Kenya Open champion, and has previously won the Uganda Open, Rwanda Open and Malawi Open tournaments and also boasts of being a multiple winner of the International Tennis Federation (ITF) Junior Circuit. His sister, Shufaa is also among the top female tennis players in the country.

The young lad originally from humble beginnings of Dark City in Ganjoni, Mombasa County has officially released four singles since last year, his latest dubbed "Love is a drug" uploaded on his YouTube channel.

"Right now I'm still enjoying the process of discovering what kind of music I should lean into, but so far I enjoy writing and recording hip hop because I'm highly influenced by rappers as well as R&B because I want people to find something to hold onto while going through the ups and downs of life and even doing a little bit of 'gengetone' which is currently very popular in the Kenyan market. 

"And since I'm already used to being on my feet, rehearsing and doing the records in my home studio is a plus for me since I can still stay active even without playing," he added.

Future coach

The Sports Science graduate from Seminole State University in Oklahoma says since his retirement plan is to get into tennis coaching, music will be an added advantage for him in attracting young players since they are always more comfortable when they have something in common with the coaches. 

"It's an easy way of killing two birds with one stone. I'll get to do what I love and those I'll be coaching will have more than just a coach and player relationship because we can bond through music," Changawa told Nation Sport. 

Before the Covid-19 crisis hit home, he had travelled to Indonesia in March for the Davis Cup Group 2 playoffs.

Changawa alongside his teammates Ibrahim Kibet, Sheil Kotecha and Kevin Cheruiyot painfully lost the chance to feature in the coveted Davis Cup Euro/Africa Group 2 tournament that was scheduled for September this year.

The team fell to Indonesia losing two of their decisive rubbers in the best-of-five series played at the Gelora Bung Karno Tennis Stadium in Jarkarta, pushing them back to Group 3 of the tournament.

He urges his compatriots to follow government directives so that they all come out on the other side of the pandemic and continue flying the Kenyan flag high in sports.