Kgothatso Montjane aims for back-to-back Wimbledon doubles titles

South African wheelchair tennis star Kgothatso “KG” Montjane is gearing up for the defence of her Wimbledon doubles title, alongside Japanese partner Yui Kamiji, and is hoping for back-to-back Grand Slam wins.

KG is keen to carry the momentum from the defence of their French Open title on the clay of Roland Garros onto the grass courts of the All England Club.

The title in Paris was the fourth Grand Slam win for the South African tennis superstar who recently celebrated her 39th birthday.

They had to dig deep to see off the Chinese pairing of Xiaohui Li and Ziying Wang in the women's doubles final, coming back from a set down to secure a 4-6 7-5 (10-7) victory. Her major victories also include the 2023 US Open.

While she lists the Australian Open as her favourite Slam, Wimbledon has a special place in KG’s heart, and she is keen to add to her legacy at SW19. The wheelchair tennis tournament begins on July 8.

She still ranks “being the first black South African woman to ever win Wimbledon” as her greatest tennis achievement in a career that started at amateur level in 2011.

The adjustment from clay to grass is a difficult one for most tennis players, more so for wheelchair players.

“Grass is completely a different surface and it’s quite heavy compared to clay,” KG told Independent Media Sport exclusively during her Wimbledon build-up. “Moving is a challenge, everything requires arm strength, though you have to use the hips to manoeuvre the chair.”

That explains the decision to adapt her gym programme to include more power and strength training.

She feels her “versatile game, with the ability to play both attacking and defensive tennis” remains her biggest strength, however.

The South African ace also came close to netting her first major singles title at Roland Garros, where she was knocked out in the semi-final by Dutch second seed Aniek van Koot.

It is one more obstacle the veteran from Seshego – who had a congenital disorder that affected both her hands and a foot and had to have a leg amputated at a young age – is determined to overcome.

“I work on improving every opportunity I get to compete at the highest level,” she said. “I think I made good progress and I’m taking in all the stats and feedback to keep improving.”

Their status as defending champions and French Open winners has installed KG and Kamiji among the early favourites to lift the Wimbledon title. And it is a challenge KG welcomes, despite her advancing years.

“Everyone is gunning for us and we owe it to ourselves to defend the title,” she said.

Meanwhile, South African quad tennis star Donald Ramphadi will be looking to go one step further at Wimbledon, after losing in the men’s doubles final at the French Open with Turkish partner Ahmet Kaplan.

Big-serving South African Lloyd Harris continues his comeback bid with a first-round matchup against Zizou Bergs of Germany in the men’s main draw. Harris, who was knocked out in the first round in Paris, qualified due to a protected ranking.

The main tournament starts on Monday, with the men’s final scheduled for July 13.