Johannesburg - It may be too early to make an assessment on the future of South African tennis but the country’s former golden boy Wayne Ferreira believes there are reasons to be optimistic.
Ferreira made a surprise return to the SA Davis Cup team as an advisor to non-playing team captain Marcos Ondruska during their Euro-Africa Group II first-round tie against Estonia last weekend.
The former world top 10 star, pictured, said he was heartened by Tennis SA’s (TSA) willingness to seek the advice and tap into the experience of former players.
Ferreira said that TSA had in the past snubbed former players who were more than willing to plough their knowledge back into the sport.
“They really did not use the resources they had. In one year we had 11 guys ranked in the top 100 in the world in doubles,” Ferreira said.
“There were a lot of resources they could have used with a lot of them coming back to South Africa and they are not being used properly.
“Richard Glover (TSA chief executive) is really open to bringing those guys back in and I think that is how things should be.
"A lot of countries do well because they hang on to their past players and get some good use out of them.”
Ferreira said although the jury was still out on the future health of the sport in this country, he was impressed with the newly appointed Glover’s plans.
“At this stage it is too early to say, (but) I think Richard is a very positive man and he has some good ideas to help it improve and he will probably do a good job, but it is still too early,” he said.
“I definitely have better feelings than I did a couple of years ago.”
Ferreira, a two-time Grand Slam singles semi-finalist who was one of the country’s top tennis players after reaching a career-high world ranking of No 6 in 1996 while boasting 15 ATP Tour singles titles, said he was uncertain about his involvement with the Davis Cup team going forward.
The appointment of Ondruska was a deciding factor in his decision to offer his services, and he could have another stint should it fit in with his schedule.
“He (Ondruska) asked me the last couple of ties and I didn’t really have the opportunity. This time I did and he wanted me to see some of the guys and maybe give them some advice on things they can work on,” Ferreira said.
“I came here also to meet Richard (Glover) to see what his vision is moving forward and his plans for the years to come. So it was just about coming here with an open mind to see where things go from here.”
Spending the week with the South African team, Ferreira said he was encouraged by the players’ performances with rising star Lloyd Harris receiving a special mention.
“I’ve been very impressed with the abilities of Lloyd Harris in particular; he has a good future ahead of him,” Ferreira said.
“He is still young, he still played like a young kid, but his fundamentals shot-wise are perfect so he’s got a good base.
“He just needs to develop as a player, (make the) right shot selections and work on a couple of things here and there to improve, but he certainly has a bright future.”