25th June 2023
Montjane was talking to the media on Wednesday morning after touching down at OR Tambo International Airport following her success at Roland Garros.
The African wheelchair tennis star and her partner Yui Kamiji from Japan defeated Diede de Groot and Maria Morena 6-3, 6-2 to claim the French Open Women’s Wheelchair Doubles title last Saturday.
Montjane says the objective was to punish de Groot in the doubles to give her confidence ahead of facing her in the singles.
"If that's what's gonna take for us to get Diede de Groot, we wanna inflict the pain in the doubles so that we lower her confidence in singles. So we are on a mission that she's on the other side so that when she faces us in singles, she has something to think about. The plan is to win a singles Grand Slam so I'm going to build that up from the doubles," she said.
De Groot defeated Montjane’s partner, Kamiji, 6–4, 6–2 to win the ladies' singles wheelchair tennis title at the 2022 Wimbledon championships.
Montjane was close to quitting tennis before she was discovered by Optimize Agency, which made it possible for her to secure sponsorships after an interview on Metro FM back in 2018.
She says her victory reaffirmed her even though she still faces challenges.
"It's always like let's take a coach, the coach is gonna join you in this one tournament. It's still the bare minimum, so I don't even have the full services. We will win the singles Grand Slam with a bare minimum because that's what we've always been doing. It was worth it for me to really hang in there and today be here and win a doubles Grand Slam."