Robin Montgomery is on a mission to rise through the challenges this season! Starting the year with a semifinal qualification in the ITF USA 07A event, the 19-year-old is clearly determined to come through all the obstacles in her career. However, after qualifying for three quarterfinals before coming to Madrid, the American player suffered a heartbreaking loss to Aryna Sabalenka. Speaking about her “hurt” after losing the match, Montgomery opened up about how she deals with defeats.

While Aryna Sabalenka was vying for her third title in Madrid, Robin Montgomery was opposing her in the round of 32. A three-time singles title winner of the women’s ITF circuit was full of hope to win against the Belarusian player. However, after winning the second set of the match, Montgomery couldn’t replicate the same in the deciding set. Finishing the match with a score of 6-1, 6-7(5), 6-4, the World No. 143 went home disappointed. Following that, another heartbreak drowned her in sorrow when she could not qualify past the qualifier round in the French Open. 

Her reign came to an end when she faced Leolia Jeanjean, who won the match by 4-6, 6-2, 6-4. However, even after experiencing back-to-back defeats in the tournaments, Montgomery’s morale did not go down. Instead, she chose to deal with the hurt and move on by learning several lessons from them. Talking about it, she said, “That one hurt. A lot of the matches I have been losing have been pretty close and they do sting, but they’re helping me become a stronger player. I give myself five minutes to cry about it, and then I put it under my belt.”

A believer in perfecting her tactics against opponents, Montgomery likes to play of her own accord. Therefore, success soon followed, as, after reaching her first quarterfinal match in the s-Hertogenbosch NL, Montgomery is back on track once again! After taking the quarterfinal of the WTA 125K Gaiba, IT, the four time doubles title winner on the ITF circuit has already secured her place in the final qualifier round at Wimbledon. 

With the dream of winning her upcoming match against Valentina Ryser, the American tennis pro is all set to make her debut in the Wimbledon main draw. The U.S. Open junior Grand Slam winner’s last match against Kamilla Rakhimova further underscored her zeal to extend her winning streak in Wimbledon. After the match, she also opened up about the mindset and strategy that she put to use against her opponent in her latest match.

Robin Montgomery reveals her strategy of winning matches after “the tactics go out the window”

When Robin Montgomery stopped liking to perform in the practice sets, her coach had a unique idea to intrigue her more on the subject. His solution was tiebreaks! Soon, Montgomery found her interest and started working on it more. Naturally, it paid off! Even at Wimbledon, she created history by playing in the most number of tiebreaks in the qualifier round (3). However, her dominance over Rakhimova was apparent. Finishing the match with 7-6(0), 6-7(4), 7-6(4), Montgomery claimed her victory.

Talking about her strategies, she revealed,  “[Today], both of us were digging deep, trying to figure out how to get the other one to crack. In the beginning, both of us probably had a tactical game plan but once we realized those game plans weren’t working. At a certain point in the match, the tactics go out the window and you just have to make the ball in the court.” As she moves forward with the dream of winning a grand slam in Wimbledon, hopefully Robin Montgomery doesn’t have to deal with many heartbreaks and defeats.