South African wheelchair tennis star Kgothatso Montjane’s dreams of winning another Wimbledon slam ended on Friday, but there is hunger for much more.
Montjane’s semi-final wheelchair singles match against China’s Ziying Wang started off with an early lead for her opponent, who dictated the match from the start, until Montjane got her name on the scoreboard at 1-3, after 19 minutes of play.
But the Chinese world No 4 dominated, marching through in straight sets to win 6-3, 7-5.
Whilst the second set was tighter, it wasn’t enough.
Montjane made 11 double faults against Wang’s three, and had missed opportunities.
Even the South African’s trademark slices didn’t deter Wang, whose positioning at the back of the court gave the South African missed chances to drop shot and change the rhythm. Montjane also struggled with her serve toss.
Unrelenting schedule
The unrelenting schedule for wheelchair players will not have helped, nor a lack of grass-court match practice.
Montjane hasn’t played any warm-up events on grass, missing Roehampton to rest her shoulder from an injury sustained at Roland Garros.
Her singles and doubles run at Wimbledon meant no rest days.
This is the brutal reality of the wheelchair tennis schedule as the tournament starts in the second week of Wimbledon, often meaning no days off.
The four-time grand slam champion spoke to Amisha Savani about the fatigue with playing consecutive three-setter matches.
“I’m not getting any younger, so recovery is quite important, but I have no control over that (scheduling), it is just how the tournament is structured”.
Reflecting on positive takeaways from her Wimbledon run, Montjane was optimistic.
“I still have it in me, this was just an example to show that I shouldn’t give up soon, because there’s still so much more.”
Tennis royalty
Centre Court has a royal box, but Court 15 had tennis royalty in Montjane’s box.
Montjane’s coach is Ilana Kloss, a former grand slam champion, having formerly won titles at Wimbledon, US Open and Roland Garros.
Another former grand slammer, Rosie Casals, was cheering from the stands. Casals is was one of the ‘Original 9’ women’s players who were instrumental in creating the Women’s Tennis Association.
Montjane said: “having such people in your corner shows how much people really believe in you. No one can actually give me a better lesson of the game than those people who are sitting in the box.”
Speaking about her own motivation, the South African star said: “For me the reason why I’m doing this is to inspire other black kids back home, to never be scared to take up a sports like tennis, and I think we are proving it that you don’t need to have it all, to actually make it here at the top. Anything can be achieved”.
When Savani asked whether there was a particular place or person Montjane turns to for comfort and a re-set after a grand slam loss, she credited Ilana Kloss.
“One thing she says to me on a day like this is, ‘take it as feedback, because feedback is not a failure’.
“I’ve been living by those words, because whenever I lose, I think it doesn’t hit me as much as it used to. Those are the words I Iive by”.
Amisha Savani is reporting exclusively for The South African from the All England Lawn Tennis Club, Wimbledon.
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