South Africa’s Kgothatso Montjane will once again be looking to make her mark at Wimbledon as she begins her singles campaign against Yui Kamiji
She’s no stranger to the lawns of SW19 and with a game style that suits the grass perfectly it earned her a place in both singles and doubles finals at Wimbledon in 2021.
On that occasion she finished as runner-up in both but this year Kgothatso “KG” Montjane is determined to use her experience at previous Championships to try to upgrade those trophies
“It’s just great motivation.” she told Two Bounce Tennis. “The results last year most of all just opened my mind in terms of what I can achieve in the sport and now I have different picture and a different direction.
“I’m coming out here this year to play my best game and throw everything at it that I can – the touch, the slice, the big serve I’ve got all the tools in the bag, the most important thing is how I use those tools during my matches.”
Drawing Yui Kamiji in her opener means that she is thrown straight into the deep end but Montjane believes that the surface may act as a leveller when it comes to taking on the World No.2.
She said, “We’re on grass and in wheelchair tennis I know many say it’s not a perfect surface for everyone. For me though I’ve always had great success on this surface so I’m just going to treat it like any other match and come out here and play how I know I can whoever is at the other side of the net.”
And in doubles, well she’ll be reuniting with Britain’s Lucy Shuker, with whom she created magic on court at last years Wimbledon toppling one of the title favourites Diede de Groot and Aniek Van Koot in the semi-finals to earn themselves a spot in the final.
Returning this year, now as a seeded partnership, she is hoping they can remind everyone of that sparkle they brought to the court and taste even more success together on the doubles court.
“We really believe that our game styles when we play together suit the surface,” she explained.
“Last year after beating the top seeds we struggled to take it all in – we were just like we can’t believe we just did this.
“This year we are pretty positive that our game styles will see us through. We’re up for it and we’re hoping this time we can take it all the way.”
