Tongoona Living His Best Tennis Life in Nebraska

Tennis was a family sport for the Tongoona family in Harare, Zimbabwe, so it was only natural that Fungai Tongoona would not only play the sport, but coach as well.

“I decided to take up tennis because my father was a professor at University of Zimbabwe and he had picked up the game for fun and health with some friends,” Tongoona said. “Soon he got the family playing and everyone plays. At some point three out of the five kids played for the National team.”

Tongoona came to Lincoln in 1998 to play for the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Men’s Tennis Team. He had an immediate connection with former head coach Kerry McDermott and played four years for the Huskers. He said there was definitely a culture shock when he first moved to the Cornhusker state.

“There were a lot more white people than I had grown up with, so that was probably the biggest shock,” he remembered. “But everyone turned out to be very friendly and laid back, which is what I like about Nebraska.”

In the tennis community in Zimbabwe, everyone got along well and race didn’t matter, he said. In the United States, he noticed that race seems to be more of an issue. Fungai has lived in Nebraska and Texas.

“It is in the media every day and everything is about race which makes for uncomfortable situations especially being of a darker skin. As a tennis player/coach of color you are always under the microscope and it is almost uncomfortable, but just being yourself helps a lot.”

Tongoona was assistant coach for the Huskers for seven years. He also worked at Southlake Tennis Academy in Texas, and later coached at Nebraska Wesleyan University. He currently works at Woods Tennis Center in Lincoln as an Assistant Pro. 

Today, the 41-year-old enjoys introducing the sport to both adults and juniors, and wants to recruit more minorities to the sport of tennis.

“At some point if I can help get more minorities involved in tennis that would be a big win,” he said. “I feel like the sport of tennis is not accessible financially for poor kids. In Zimbabwe when the tennis programs were subsidized by the National Tennis Association, a lot of tennis players were unearthed in the smaller cities. The best way to move forward is to talk to each other and find the next champion in a different place.”

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