Kgothatso Montjane Keeps Blazing the Trail

Montjane, who made history in 2019 as the first Black South African woman to qualify for Wimbledon, met Kamiji from being on the road and attending competitions. But the duo only teamed up in 2022. “We’ve always been around each other. At some point, we just decided to try doubles and see how it goes,” she says. “I think so far, so good because we are winning. This is our third Grand Slam together. We’ll see if we’ll team up in the future, but we’re really enjoying the partnership and what we can both achieve.”

Last year, she told the International Tennis Federation that it wasn’t easy to decide to play together, and added that she was enjoying it nonetheless. “[We] are producing the results that we always wished for. We play better on clay because the surface is not so fast, but today we approached the match with the mentality we’d adopted going into the U.S. Open final. We didn’t get the chance to play that final, but we brought that same attitude,” she had said.

Montjane, born and raised in Limpopo, South Africa, faced numerous challenges due to a congenital defect affecting both her limbs. Despite this, her parents raised her with the belief that she could achieve anything. “When you’re born with a disability, some parents don’t think their kids have a future. I feel that my parents tried to raise me like any other child,” she says, reflecting on their support.

Montjane has spoken before about how people would stare at her when she was young. “I have come to understand why they were staring at me, simply because I was differently abled. It was quite a tough childhood to grow up with a disability.”

Montjane’s introduction to sports began at her boarding school for the disabled, where she started playing for fun. It was in her final year that she discovered wheelchair tennis. “I never used to play sports to make it a career. It was just an accident that I happened to play tennis. They said I must go try tennis because it was introduced in the country,” she explains.

She carried on playing while studying towards a bachelors degree in recreation and leisure, and was asked to go for wheelchair tennis trials after her graduation. She got accepted into the programme, and went on tour in 2011.

“I didn’t know what tennis was. It was quite difficult, I found difficulties pushing with the racket and having to move and hit the ball. As time went by, I found the challenge interesting and I was curious about the sport. I decided to stick around . When I started out, I didn’t know anything about Grand Slams, Super Series. For me, every tournament looked the same. When I qualified for Grand Slams, I found that really fascinating.”

She continues: “I was just playing because they said I must play. I don’t wanna lie to you, I didn’t know what I was doing. I just thought I was going to a competition. This wasn’t a structured career path for me. At the beginning, I was just playing; I wouldn’t say there were challenges or anything. People who were running the sport had everything planned out. All I had to do was to just go out there and play tennis.”

In under a month, Montjane will be wearing South African colors at the Paralympics in Paris. She is one of the country’s most decorated athletes, and has competed at the event three times prior — 2008, 2012, 2016.

Discussing her routine, Montjane says it’s tough to give an overview. “I train a lot between November and December. I do a lot of strength and power training. Across the year, it’s difficult to really go into training because you’re competing. In-between, I always try to play tennis. But the proper training is done in those two months at the end of the year because you need to get your body ready to hold up for the rest of the year.”

Montjane, who is currently number nine on ITF’s global singles rankings and number 1 in the doubles ranking, is looking forward to the Paralympics. While acknowledging that “There’ll only be one winner” and that “you’ll never win every tournament,” Montjane remains hopeful, saying, “I just hope I can be on the podium.”