The Power of KG – gsport4girls

Once you are recognised on the gsport Awards stage, we are part of your journey and keep updating your story, and few have had their story chronicled on gsport more than celebrated gsport Award winner Kgothatso Montjane.

From the early days when she became the first paid keynote speaker at the gsport Awards in 2011 to 2026, when she became the first athlete ever to officially open the gsport Awards on behalf of the initiative, her bond with the platform remains unbroken.

KG, as she is affectionately known, is larger than life, and her on-court prowess is perfectly matched with a swagger of confidence she has earned over many years of competing at the highest level of international wheelchair tennis.

It is not just what she does on court that matters but what she is doing to leave a legacy for the next generation. This week, it was wonderful to hear news of the WDB Trust announcing their official sponsorship of KG for the 2026 season.

It is not a new association. WDB were there in the early days and have been a pioneer supporter of KG and her journey to play and compete against the best in the world. This partnership will ensure that KG’s work with her foundation is elevated and that her living legacy continues to gain the necessary momentum as she looks to impact the next generation.

The history runs deep. In 2018, after Montjane travelled to London without a coach and became the first black South African woman to play at Wimbledon, reaching the singles semi-finals, WDB was among the first group of corporate backers to rally behind her. When she flew home, it was WDB Trust CEO Nomgqibelo Mdlalose who was there to welcome her at the airport. 

Founded in 1991 to advance economically disadvantaged women in rural South Africa, the WDB Trust is a women-founded, women-led and women-managed organisation, sustained by its investment arm WDB Investment Holdings, and its decision to stand behind a rural Limpopo girl with a racquet was an act of investment before it was ever an act of marketing. 

That first package, assembled by her management agency Optimize in the weeks after Wimbledon, drew ten backers and just under R1.5 million to carry her to the US Open and, in time, to the top of the sport.

The return of the WDB Trust to her corporate portfolio represents a full-circle moment for an athlete whose beginnings in the sport were defined by sheer grit. In its announcement, the Trust saluted an athlete who has become “the first Black South African woman to win at Wimbledon and a three-time SA Disabled Sportswoman of the Year”.

Since taking up wheelchair tennis, she has gone on to represent South Africa on the world’s biggest stages, from the Australian Open to Roland Garros, accumulating 29 career singles titles along the way.

Her historic milestone as the first black South African woman to win at Wimbledon, capturing the 2024 women’s wheelchair doubles title, cemented her status as a true global icon. That Wimbledon crown, won alongside Yui Kamiji, followed the pair’s 2023 breakthrough, when they lifted the French Open and US Open doubles titles in the same season, and they returned to Roland Garros to win again in 2025.

By securing the backing of the WDB Trust, Montjane continues to make massive commercial strides that match her global tennis feats.

For years, adaptive sports have fought for equitable corporate sponsorship, and KG has single-handedly altered that landscape.

She is candid about why that matters. Speaking to gsport in the studio on Mandela Day this year, she said the national support for wheelchair tennis still lags the consistency its players show at Grand Slam level. 

“It’s not easy to really keep up, tennis is a very demanding sport.” 

South African Doubles Grand Slam Champion, Kgothatso Montjane

What drives her is the girl coming up behind her: “One day it will open up so that the new generation doesn’t suffer.”

This partnership aligns directly with the WDB Trust’s core philosophy. “Her journey embodies everything WDB Trust stands for: resilience, excellence, and the belief that when you invest in a woman, you invest in a nation,” the Trust said in announcing the sponsorship. Through this commercial backing, they are not simply supporting a world-class athlete. 

“We’re helping to open doors for the next generation of girls and women in sport across South Africa”.

Women’s Development Bank 

That work already has a physical address. Through the Montjane Sports Development Foundation, established in 2018 to change the lives of learners with disabilities from previously disadvantaged backgrounds through education and sport, KG has funded scholarships, run township tennis clinics and, most recently, built a tennis court at Letaba Special School in Limpopo. 

“We are more focused on erecting sports facilities and just giving access to the disadvantaged,” she explains. The Limpopo court was made possible by a donation from her Belgium-based sponsor Syensqo, with equipment from Nike and Dunlop, and she reserves “the biggest shout out to my team at Optimize” for executing the foundation’s projects on the ground.

She knows what representation does because she lived without it. 

“I value representation so much because one has to see to be able to believe it, that it can happen. I didn’t see anyone doing it, but here I am.” 

Kgothatso Montjane

She counts it as a responsibility that extends beyond South Africa, to “make sure that the young ones in Africa, they believe that a sport like tennis, it’s also made for them”. For an athlete who picked up a racquet at 19 with no one to guide her, the lesson is pointed: “Talent can be a curse if it’s not being channelled the right way.”

Her relationship with gsport has tracked every step. A four-time winner on the gsport stage by 2021, she added a double that year, taking both the Global Woman in Sport and Brand South Africa Para Sport Star awards, and has since claimed the Para Sport Star title again in 2023 and at #gsport20 in 2025. 

“I look at my trophy cabinet, everywhere: It’s gsport awards.” 

She describes the initiative as “the first awards in the country that are so focused on women and deliberate making sure that the women in sport are being promoted”.

This momentum comes at a crucial time as Montjane throws her focus forward to her next major international assignment. She is currently deep in preparation to fly the South African flag at the 2026 US Open, taking place from 31 August to 13 September at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in New York, where the singles Grand Slam title that has eluded her remains firmly in her sights.

As a multiple gsport Award winner and the most decorated Para Sport Star in the history of the initiative, her path continues to inspire.

From a lone warrior assembling her own wheelchair by the courts to a heavily endorsed champion, her story remains a powerful masterclass in resilience, showing corporate South Africa exactly what happens when you intentionally back female excellence.

And for the young girl in Limpopo holding a racquet for the first time, KG’s message is the same one she carries onto every court: “If it’s your dream, believe in it, work hard for it.”

---

Main Photo Caption: Wheelchair tennis icon Kgothatso Montjane, a multiple gsport Award winner, has secured official WDB Trust sponsorship for the 2026 season ahead of her US Open campaign at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in New York from 31 August to 13 September 2026. All Photos: Supplied

Photo 2 Caption: Montjane’s partnership with the WDB Trust comes full circle, the women-led organisation having first backed her after her 2018 Wimbledon breakthrough.

Photo 3 Caption: The Montjane Sports Development Foundation opens doors for learners with disabilities through scholarships, clinics and new facilities.