From baseline to sideline

South African tennis legend, René Plant has been an ace on the baseline for years but must now prove her worth on the sidelines.

This Fourways resident and reigning women’s champion at Bryanston Sports Club has been selected as South Africa’s Fed Cup captain.

Plant will head the training and preparation of the country’s women’s team from now all the way until the tournament in Montenegro in April 2020.

This comes off the back of a successful international tennis career that saw Plant ranked in the top 10 as a junior, and reach the Wimbledon junior singles final in 1981, before a professional career saw her play in the grand slams (Wimbledon was her favourite) and once reach a ranking of 30th in the world.

Plant later won the over 40s section of the Seniors World Tennis Championships.

“Tennis is a game for life,” she said simply.

Plant is the head tennis coach at St Mary’s School, Waverley, and her knowledge of the game, coupled with coaching skills she has learnt on the job, will help her take South Africa’s women’s tennis to the next level.

“It is a privilege and honour to be the Fed Cup captain. There is a big challenge ahead, with some of our best women’s players playing in colleges overseas and it is tough getting the colleges to let them go, but we will have a competitive team with the ability to do well.”

Plant dreams of improving women’s tennis in South Africa and said this could be done by improving the link between junior and senior tennis, and hosting bigger tennis tournaments in South Africa that will attract international players and attract more girls to the sport.

She is organising a Next Generation tournament at Bryanston Sports Club in June, which will do exactly that.

Plant was first inspired to pursue tennis seriously after her aunt, Pat Pretorius helped South Africa win the Fed Cup in 1972, and handed her the winner’s brooch.

She then turned professional at the age of eight and has never looked back.

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