CHENNAI: SUFFERING an injury takes a toll on an athlete, both mentally and physically. The long lay-off period following the blow can be mentally exhausting, especially when other competitors do better, with the rankings or by title wins. Off the court, the finances and sponsors can dry up, which is crucial for athletes.
For US’s former Junior World No 1 Robin Montgomery, she had to deal with the pangs of it in the years following her Junior US Open singles and doubles title victory in 2021. With rising expectations, Montgomery had to fight a battle of her own. Early in 2022, she suffered a severe right wrist injury, which aggravated early last year. She had no choice but to undergo surgery later that year.
But before she stepped on to the court, life was not the easiest. She was raised by a single mother in Washington DC, but as she said: "It takes a village to raise a child." her grandmother and her aunt were also there. "I definitely come from a household of strong, independent women, and I wouldn't change that for the world," she said.
Introduced to sports by her mother — a skier from Oregon in the USA —Montgomery picked up tennis at age six. "My mom happened to put me in tennis because I was a hyper child and she just wanted to tire me out," she said. From there on, the journey has had its highs, but in her lows she has learnt valuable lessons.
She revealed how she discovered a different side to her in her recovery from the wrist injury. “I took that time to relearn myself and learn new things about myself on and off the court, and finding different hobbies and things like that to make sure that even though I love tennis and tennis takes up a lot of my time, I'm still Robin. I'm very grateful for that time, granted it was much longer than I wanted it to be,” she said.
And the approach has worked out to an extent. She won her first WTA level tournament in her career in the Netherlands in June (Libema Open WTA 250). Then at the Chennai Open on Tuesday, she began her campaign by beating Panna Udvardy.
But the biggest moment of the year came in the US Open in September. Partnering with Ashlyn Krueger – with whom she won the junior doubles title of this Grand Slam event in 2021 – the pair entered the final but they lost to Katerina Siniakova and Taylor Townsend. Montgomery explained about the journey to the final. “Sometimes people think doubles may not matter but in reality, it's still time on the court, it matters. I think the pressure moments in doubles are way more intense than singles. You don't want to let your partner down and knowing how clutch we were in different moments, some moments she (Krueger) stepped up to the moment and some moments I carried her, you know, it was just a balance,” she said. That, according to her, has helped. “Carrying those moments where we proved like no matter how big the moment is, we can still play our game and still play free, I think those are the moments that I try to take into the singles,” she said.
Now, with a few deep tournament runs in the bank, Montgomery hopes to see a similar result in Chennai. Her key objective for next season is to stay as healthy as possible. “For me, I've always been out for at least a minimum of three months each year since I turned pro. It’s been ‘stop and go, stop and go’ which can be difficult for players to manage in regards to matching my competitors. Sometimes being injured, I did feel like I'm falling behind, I'm not where I'm supposed to be, so those expectations definitely showed up. It is about finding the right balance of what's right for me. We're putting our bodies through a lot, but it's to make sure I don't take a minimum three months out. But if it happens, it happens, if it doesn't, great. So it's just taking it with a grain of salt,” she explained.
Time at JTCC, Tiafoe association
Since Montgomery's mother moved to Washington DC, she found tennis as an option as skiing was not possible there."She heard about the Junior Tennis Champions Center (JTCC) through the newspaper and they had just like a summer festival where they just bring a bunch of young kids to have fun, and eventually they look at the talent, and they pick like one to two kids who they can earn a scholarship to come train and I was one of those kids.That's how her association with the renowned academy began. "I still go back there. It's still like a second home to me, so whenever I go back to DC, I still train out of there, and yeah, it's like it's family," she said. One of the players that she has enjoyed training at the academy with is Former World No 8 Frances Tiafoe. "He is definitely like an older brother to me. We are definitely polar opposites with how we play and everything, but I think he's taught me some things on how to enjoy the moment, and I hope I helped him by maybe showing up on time. Then obviously other players like Haley Baptiste and everyone who comes out of that club have been helpful," she signed off