Donald Ramphadi

Tennis career

Ramphadi first started playing tennis in 2009 while studying at Letaba Special School in Tzaneen, Limpopo Province, and originally thought tennis was "a white people's sport," but ended up falling in love with the game. Ramphadi and Sithole then defeated the Brazilian pair of Ymanitu Silva (one of Ramphadi's previous partners) He was fully able-bodied until the age of 12, when he developed osteogenesis imperfecta (OI), also known as brittle bone disease. His mobility decreased until he could almost not walk, though it began to partly increase after his mother suggested he begin walking with a cane she had collected in a local forest. Ramphadi attended the University of South Africa. He now lives in Pretoria and is a father to one son.