Roland Garros semi-finalist Montjane appreciating her opportunities
Eight years on from reaching the first Grand Slam singles semi-final of her career at Roland Garros, Kgothatso Montjane is back in the last four on the Parisian clay and determined to continue enjoying wheelchair tennis after experiencing some tough times during lockdown in South Africa.
World No. 7 Montjane beat Roland Garros debutant Dana Mathewson 6-3 6-4 in their seventh career meeting. However, with four of their previous six matches having gone to three sets, the result does not tell the whole story after Montjane saw a 3-0 second set lead slip away, with Mathewson coming within two games of forcing another final set decider.
“In my head I was like ‘she’s not really hurting me’. I was just making a lot of errors, so for me, it was just a matter of being consistent and cutting down the errors. When I started doing that it really helped me and I wasn’t intimidated,” insisted Montjane.
However she admitted that she needs to improve for her semi-final against world No. 2 Yui Kamiji, who Montjane took to three sets in February’s Australian Open: “Going into the next round I need to be more focused and more composed. I need to anticipate more, as I feel I was very tentative today.”
Like many, Montjane felt far from focused and composed during parts of 2020, as the pandemic forced many communities around the world into lockdown and had unprecedented effects on sport at all levels.
“For a good three months we were under a hard lockdown and we couldn’t access the courts or the gym at all,” the 34-year-old said of her experience in South Africa. “It was quite frustrating and it was starting to get to me and I thought I was dipping into depression. So I am grateful for my therapist and we were having quite a lot of sessions.
“She helped me to adjust to the new situation because Covid is what it is and I must just embrace it and learn to live with it because it’s not going away any time soon. She also helped prepare me for getting out of lockdown and back on court. We did a lot of mental exercises and I played tennis in my head for the longest time.”
However, Montjane no longer has to play tennis only in her head and is grateful for the opportunities to be competitive back on court.
“I have so much appreciation for this sport. Some of our tournaments are still not there but the ITF, the UNIQLO Tour and the tournament directors are ensuring we are back playing despite the difficult conditions,” said Montjane, who became the first black South African woman to play at Wimbledon in 2018.
“When we were under lockdown it felt like there would be no more wheelchair tennis, so I’m just enjoying the sport again.”
Along with enjoying being able to play her sport again, Montjane is also enjoying the benefits of a new tennis chair that she took charge of shortly after returning from Australia.
“The new chair is definitely making a difference to me out here - it’s much more stable than my old chair,” she said. “With the old chair I used to use 27-inch wheels on a 26-inch wheelchair, so I used to feel like I was falling quite a lot. With this one I feel more stable when I’m pushing forward. Those balls I wouldn’t usually have got before on clay, I’m now getting to them. I’m still getting used it, but I still see myself improving for a while.”
Montjane’s quarter-final against Mathewson was the closest of the opening women’s singles exchanges in Paris, with Kamiji beginning her title defence by beating her doubles partner Jordanne Whiley 6-2 6-1.
The other women’s singles semi-final will be an all-Dutch affair between world No. 1 Diede de Groot and world No.3 Aniek van Koot after De Groot defeated Roland Garros first-timer Angelica Bernal 6-0 6-0 and Van Koot wasted little time in beating wild card entry Emmanuelle Morch 6-1 6-2 on Morch’s Grand Slam debut.
The men’s singles began with a rematch of the last two Grand Slam finals as defending Roland Garros champion Alfie Hewett overcame Joachim Gerard 6-1 6-4. Hewett will now face Gustavo Fernandez, the player he beat to win his first career Grand Slam title in Paris in 2017, after Argentina’s world No. 2 defeated Nicolas Peifer 6-0 6-4.
The other semi-final will also feature two former champions after world No. 1 Shingo Kunieda fought back from 5-3 down to beat Gordon Reid 7-6(3) 6-2 and Stephane Houdet defeated fellow Frenchman Frederic Cattaneo 6-2 6-1. Kunieda and Houdet will now meet for the 61st time.