'Ntungamili has always had genuine love for tennis'
Mqondisi Dube | Friday January 30, 2026 12:11
Raguin is on local sport fans' lips following a historic debut at the Australian Open Junior Championships this week, becoming the first Motswana tennis player to feature at a grand slam. The 17-year-old rose from the Francistown School of Tennis, pioneered by his father, Dominique Raguin. As Raguin made history in Australia, Dominique revealed that his son has always had a genuine love for tennis.
'Very early on, around age six, when he started travelling to Zimbabwe with teammates from the Francistown School of Tennis, it was obvious,' Dominique told MmegiSport yesterday (Thursday).
'He was always smiling, on and off the court, fully engaged and happy to be there. The motivation was clearly coming from him.'
Despite the monumental achievement of gaining entry into a grand slam, one of tennis' highest stages, Dominique said his son has remained grounded.
'He is still very much Ntungamili – simple, gentle, and quietly confident. He is someone who smiles easily and gets along naturally with teammates, peers, and adults alike,' Dominique said.
'He is also very responsible and autonomous. He manages his own schedule, gets himself to training and is always on time, which is essential given how tight his routine is between tennis, fitness, schoolwork, tutoring, and physio,' he added.
On how the player balances sport and school work, Dominique bemoaned it is a challenge at the moment.
'Over the past three years, he attended a school with a special programme for high-level athletes, with classes in the morning and training every afternoon.
'This year, because of extensive international travel – sometimes up to four weeks at a time – we moved him to distance education. He is in the second-to-last year of the French Baccalaureate, which comes with early coursework deadlines and final exams in June, so the academic calendar is very compressed,' he said.
According to the tennis star’s father, striking a balance between sport and schoolwork requires a lot of discipline and support, but Raguin understands the 'trade-off.'
'The coming months will be very school-intensive, especially when he is back in France, but this structure gives him the flexibility to compete in the world's top junior tournaments, including Grand Slams,' Dominique said.