After getting the Grand Slam monkey off her shoulder this weekend by winning the Roland Garros women’s wheelchair doubles title, South African tennis ace Kgothatso Montjane is targeting a singles title.
Montjane and her partner Yui Kamiji from Japan went into the year’s second Grand Slam as the top seeds in the wheelchair doubles. The duo’s number one seeding was evident in how they dominated their opponents throughout the rounds, winning most of their matches in straight sets. In the final, they defeated Diede de Groot and Maria Florencia Moreno 6-3, 6-2, much to the jubilation of fans in Paris and around the world.
For Montjane, the win brought out a lot of emotion as it finally broke her Slam duck. She had been in five finals and lost them all.
“It’s an exciting moment for me,” Montjane said from Paris reflecting on her milestone win.
“It’s such a great feeling and moment for me. I’m happy I managed to win my first Grand Slam, even if it’s a double. “It’s a moment worth living for,” she said.
In the singles, Montjane bowed out in the quarterfinals, losing 6-0, 6-4 to Japan’s Momoko Ohtani. The result was not one she wanted, however, with two Slams remaining in the year, Wimbledon and the US Open, she still has a chance.
She’s feeling in fine form and fit. “I’ve been fortunate to do both singles and doubles. It’s an exciting time for me, I want to take it all in and start working on fighting for the singles title I have been working on,” she said.
“I’m grateful for the team I have behind me, if it wasn’t for them, I don’t know how I would have bounced back from a career-threatening injury and yet today I’m here’ talking about the doubles Grand Slam,” said the 37-year-old.
Montjane excited after finally clinching Grand Slam title
Tennis ace gets monkey off her back with Roland Garros doubles triumph
Image: ITF
After getting the Grand Slam monkey off her shoulder this weekend by winning the Roland Garros women’s wheelchair doubles title, South African tennis ace Kgothatso Montjane is targeting a singles title.
Montjane and her partner Yui Kamiji from Japan went into the year’s second Grand Slam as the top seeds in the wheelchair doubles. The duo’s number one seeding was evident in how they dominated their opponents throughout the rounds, winning most of their matches in straight sets. In the final, they defeated Diede de Groot and Maria Florencia Moreno 6-3, 6-2, much to the jubilation of fans in Paris and around the world.
For Montjane, the win brought out a lot of emotion as it finally broke her Slam duck. She had been in five finals and lost them all.
“It’s an exciting moment for me,” Montjane said from Paris reflecting on her milestone win.
“It’s such a great feeling and moment for me. I’m happy I managed to win my first Grand Slam, even if it’s a double. “It’s a moment worth living for,” she said.
In the singles, Montjane bowed out in the quarterfinals, losing 6-0, 6-4 to Japan’s Momoko Ohtani. The result was not one she wanted, however, with two Slams remaining in the year, Wimbledon and the US Open, she still has a chance.
She’s feeling in fine form and fit. “I’ve been fortunate to do both singles and doubles. It’s an exciting time for me, I want to take it all in and start working on fighting for the singles title I have been working on,” she said.
“I’m grateful for the team I have behind me, if it wasn’t for them, I don’t know how I would have bounced back from a career-threatening injury and yet today I’m here’ talking about the doubles Grand Slam,” said the 37-year-old.
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