21 Oct 2024

Monday marked the first day of the ITF World Tennis Tour-J60 taking place in Gaborone where three local women players lost their matches.

Kagello Malumo lost 6-1, 6-1 to South African Botshelo Diseko, Rethabile Moshaoa lost 6-0, 6-0 to Sapir Cohen of Israel, while Ditshegofatso Bapaletswe lost 6-0, 6-0 to Milan Swanepoel of South Africa.

National team coach, Petrus Molefe blamed the weather for unimpressive results.

 It was quite windy and that alone was a mental test, Molefe said.

Tough as the matches were, he said local players were showing inexperience at the J60 level, because they were not displaying their normal grit.

While opponents handled the situation well and did not show any sign of frustration, Molefe said the same could not be said about Botswana players.

 “Our players were showing a lot of frustration. I hope it is a learning curve for them because they have the tactics and technique. 

I think the mental side failed them and it seemed they were hoping to play in favourable conditions,” he said.

Asked about the game, Kagello said that she did not anticipate that the weather would be unfriendly but added that she had a good game nonetheless and would work on her mistakes.

Retshabile admitted that she made many mistakes, was not consistent and was absent mentally.

Ditshegofatso also blamed the weather and said, “I kept on hitting the ball and it went in a different direction. 

It is a lesson learnt. We just have to hold our heads high and move forward, that’s the nature of the game,” she said. Ends