In 2018, Tennis South Africa told Kgothatso Montjane that they'd run out of money: she'd have to find a sponsor on her own. A few months later, she became the first black woman from South Africa to compete at Wimbledon –– wheelchaired or able-bodied.
Kgothatso Montjane didn’t plan on becoming a tennis player. She grew up in a rural South African village and had her left leg amputated when she was 12 years old due to complications from a congenital disorder. But in 2005, when she was still a teenager, a coach at her high school picked her to play wheelchair tennis at a camp.me that you're going to go and represent the school in this sport," Kgothatso says.
"They were in negotiations to try to renew the sponsor," Kgothatso recalls."But, at this moment in time, [they said,] ‘We really don't have, like, enough money to keep you guys going. So we think it's about time you try to look out for something for yourself out there.’" "It was quite stressful," Kgothatso says."I'm not a marketing person or anything, so I didn't even know if it looked good enough or if I did it how it's supposed to be done."
"It was tough, you know, when you don't even know if you're going to be able to pay your bills, or what you are going to eat, because you're not playing at all," Kgothatso says."If you don't play, then you don't earn anything. I was just like, ‘I will see who comes through for me.’ Finally, Mbeki’s donation came through. It was just in time for Kgothatso to make it to the French Open at Roland Garros in June.
"After Roland Garros, I went to another tournament in Paris," Kgothatso says."And I think three days after the tournament, that's when I got the email that said, ‘You've been given a wild card into Wimbledon.’" "Maybe it had to happen that way," Kgothatso says."Because that's the situation that really actually keeps you strong. And you find something in you that you didn't know before. I was able to keep my head up and keep going."
Kgothatso says that the radio host had asked her to tune in for this interview. As she listened, the host asked Casaletti-Bwalya about how athletes could put themselves in the best position to land endorsements. And then, the host brought up Kgothatso’s story. And live, on the radio, the Optimize CEO said she’d take a look into helping Kgothatso find sponsorship.
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