I'M A SYMBOL OF HOPE

She was forced into tennis, then it became her hobby and now Kgothatso Montjane is reaping the rewards one Grand Slam after the other 

- JANICE BECKETT-MSIZA

SHE was at the point of giv­ing up last year. A nagging elbow injury had kept her off the court for months and she spent most of 2022 in rehab, watching her world rankings drop. 

But Kgothatso Montjane has never been the kind of person to give up easily and she decided to give it one more go. If she failed, at least she would have tried.

In the end she did more than try – she came back and conquered. South Africa’s wheelchair tennis sensation now has two 2023 Grand Slam doubles titles to her name – the French Open and the re­ cent US Open, both of which she won with her Japanese partner, Yui Kamiji.

“I’m honestly just grateful for every­thing that’s happening in my career right now and so thankful for this year,” she tells YOU.

“Coming into 2023 I told myself I was just going to try to build myself up again so it came as a surprise for me to be doing so well.”

Kgothatso (37) has been blazing a trail for South Africa for years. She has taken part in three Paralympics and in 2018 she became the first black South African to compete at Wimbledon. That year she also became the first African wheelchair player to have taken part in all four Grand Slam tournaments.

She added another first to her list of successes this year by becoming the first South African to win at the French Open after she and Yui took the title. The US Open final was actu­ally a letdown, she says.

Their Dutch opponents, Diede de Groot and Jiske Griffioen, forfeited the match after Jiske fell ill and Kgothatso and Yui were the winners by default.