Johannesburg – Top South African singles player Kevin Anderson and doubles specialist Raven Klaasen wrapped up their most successful seasons to date, closing out the year with rankings inside the world’s top 20.
Anderson started the year in 20th place in the singles rankings and, after reaching the quarterfinals of the Paris Masters and the Valencia Open, climbed to a career-high ranking of 16th on the World Tennis Rankings in October.
His most notable outings in the year’s grand slams included reaching the last 16 of the Australian Open as well as at Wimbledon. He also finished runner-up in the Mexican Open and at the ATP Delray Beach Open.
However, Anderson continued to be challenged by Tomas Berdych who ousted him from the Australian Open at the start of the year, the Madrid Masters in May and again in the final tournament of the year in Paris, making it 12 out of 12 meetings for the Czech national.
From January, the spotlight was on Klaasen after he reached the men’s doubles final at the Australian Open with American partner Eric Butorac.
The pair went on to win the Memphis Open a month later and the Stockholm Open in October.
Having peaked at 18th, the 32-year-old ended the year in 20th place in the doubles rankings.
Klaasen recently ended his partnership with Butorac, revealing that he would team up with eight-time grand slam doubles winner Leander Paes, for the 2015 season. The 41-year-old from India was ranked the number one doubles player in the world in 1999, and is currently ranked 29th.
South Africa’s number one women’s tennis player Chanelle Scheepers finished the year in 78th place on the WTA rankings.
In wheelchair tennis, Evans Maripa ended the year as South Africa’s top ranked men’s player at number 15 in the world rankings. His year started on a high note, reaching the final of the Perry New Zealand Wheelchair Tennis Open and then partnered Australian Ben Weekes to take the doubles title.
Maripa teamed up with Shingo Kunieda to win the doubles at the Japan Open.
South Africa also made its mark in the men’s singles quads division, with Lucas Sithole being ranked fourth internationally.
Kgothatso Montjane, South Africa’s number one women’s wheelchair tennis player, sealed her year with a ranking of ninth in the world.
While players were relatively successful as individuals, it was a different story for the Davis Cup team. South Africa failed to progress to the Euro-Africa Group One of the tournament and instead remained in the lower division. They travel to Turkey for a Group Two first round tie in 2015.
Rik De Voest was honoured by the International Tennis Federation for joining an exclusive band of players who had represented their country in 20 or more Davis Cup ties.
The tie against Lithuania was De Voest’s last outing for South Africa after he announced his retirement from tournament tennis in July.
Having spent 16 years on the ATP circuit, the 34-year-old played the final match of his career at the Vancouver Challenger.
South Africa’s Fed Cup team, under new captain Earl Grainger, travelled to Lithuania for their Euro/Africa Zone Group 2 event. They beat Montenegro and Egypt but lost to Georgia and Bosnia Herzegovina to remain in the same group for 2015.
On the local front, the 2014 Soweto Open was cancelled due to a lack of funding.
The event for men and women required annual sponsorship in the region of R8 million in order to stage it as an ATP Challenger and ITF women’s tournament.
It was also due to the lack of sponsorship in 2012 that the Soweto Open was not held, with only a windfall from the government enabling it to be revived last year. – Sapa