JOHANNESBURG - Buoyed by recent sponsorship announcements, the South African team will be looking to reward their new financial backers in their Euro-Africa Group II Davis Cup tie against Estonia at the Irene Country Club at the weekend.
SA’s captain Marcos Ondruska was confident of the team’s build-up to the match as they revive their pursuit of promotion to Group I. Second-seed Nik Scholtz takes on Estonia’s top-ranked player Jurgen Zopp in the opening match, while Lloyd Harris will go up against Vladimir Ivanov in the second rubber.
As expected South Africa’s top-15 ranked world doubles player Raven Klaasen will lead the charge on Saturday, partnering Ruan Roelofse.
“It has gone spectacularly. The guys have gone from strength to strength as the week progressed. They are about as ready as they are going to be this week,” Ondruska said at the official draw.
“I am excited, and happy with where the team is.”
Ondruska said that although he was confident of fielding any of the players at his disposal, their world rankings would be the deciding factor.
“The easy part is I just went on ranking because I feel everybody can take the job at hand,” Ondruska said.
“You also have to give credit where credit is due.
“These guys play all-year round to get their rankings so they kind of also deserve their spots, too.”
Last year South Africa claimed a whitewash victory over Luxembourg at home before suffering a 3-2 defeat away to Lithuania.
The 288th ranked Harris, who will be spearheading South Africa’s singles charge, said he was confident going into the tie.
Against Lithuania he tasted defeat in both his rubbers but finished the year with a flourish - winning six consecutive Futures titles.
“We had a good week of preparation. I arrived a bit earlier this time, so I had a lot of court time and time to adapt,” Harris said.
“I’ve been here a lot with the squad even before I played so I feel confident on the court and of course we have a great squad.”
Klaasen, who reached a career-high ninth in the doubles rankings in July 2016, and Roelofse, will be partnering each other for the fourth time in Davis Cup competitions.
The doubles team are often called in to do a rescue job on the Saturday which was a challenge Klaasen and Roelofse relish.
“The biggest thing about the doubles is the momentum changes in one direction. You are either slowing someone down or you are running away from someone,” Klaasen said.
“We take a lot of pride in going out there and getting the job done. In most cases we’ve been successful and we hope to do the same this weekend.”
Zopp said his team were improving with the change in altitude day by day but did not expect it to be too much of a hindrance.
“When we arrived the altitude was a challenge but we are feeling better about that and the court, and will ready for South Africa,” Zopp said.