Bright future stars: Meet Sipho Montsi
Jacaranda FM Sports Editor Trevor Cramer chats to one of the brightest tennis prospects in the country Sipho Montsi, who looks destined for big things.
It is not every day that a junior tennis player from Pretoria is approached by the one-time coach of the world's number 1 player and personally congratulated for an on-court performance.
Andy Murray's 'momager' Judy, who set the Scotsman on his path to the top of the world tennis pile, tweeted a photo with 17-year-old Sipho Montsi during the Junior Australian Open in January and said: "Today I watched the most naturally gifted young player, Siphosothando Montsi from South Africa."
Montsi was one of three up and coming South African juniors in Melbourne with local coach Allan Karam. He was accompanied by Philip Henning from Bloemfontein and the country's highest-ranked junior Joshua Howard-Tripp from Boksburg.
All three boys have represented South Africa in team competition on the international stage and Howard-Tripp was part of South Africa's junior Davis Cup team in 2015. They were also in continental action in Tunisia earlier this year at the under-18 African Championships.
Montsi originally hails from East London, but he and his younger brother, Kholo, 14, now live in Gauteng. Along with the above-mentioned trio, were described by Tennis South Africa media manager Bruce Davidson as being part of the 'nucleus of a new golden generation in South African tennis'.
The Montsi brothers continued to make significant strides on the tennis court despite limited resources and their parents Xolani and Phumla‚ eventually moved them from East London to Pretoria in 2012.
His aspirations to become a professional tennis player received a massive boost in early April when he was selected by TSA to spend a week with the South African Davis Cup team, captained by Marcos Ondruska, during the Euro-Africa Group 2 tie against Slovenia at Irene Country Club.
Jacaranda FM Sports Editor Trevor Cramer managed to chat to the affable teenager in Irene and get to know him better and encountered a sportsman who is mature way beyond his years in every respect.