Already playing in favourable conditions in front of their home crowd, Renault South Africa Davis Cup captain Pietie Norval and their top-ranked player Philip Henning are hoping the draw will give the home team another boost as they gear up for what is expected to be a hard-fought battle against Bosnia and Herzegovina at Irene Country Club in Centurion this weekend.
At the draw held on Friday ahead of the Davis Cup World Group II tie, it was decided that South Africa’s top-ranked player, Philip Henning, would step out on court first against Bosnia and Herzegovina’s No 2 Andrej Nedic.
In the second singles rubber to be contested later on Friday, SA No 2 Kholo Montsi (who was set to make his Davis Cup debut) would square off against Bosnia No 1 Damir Dzumhur.
In the doubles match on Saturday, the SA pairing of Alec Beckley and Thando Longwe-Smit were set to face Mirza Basic and Nerman Fatic, ahead of the reverse singles contests.
With a chance to take the early lead and build some confidence in the national team against the higher-ranked visitors if Henning could come out on top, Norval was pleased with the result of the draw.
“I think the draw was favourable for us. That’s the way we see it,” Norval said after the draw was held at Irene Farm.
“Obviously it’s nice when your best player goes out first, and if it goes his way and we can get ahead that’s ideal, but there are certain things you can’t control so we’ll have to see. It’s going to be a big day tomorrow and we’re looking forward to it.”
Henning was under some pressure to get the hosts off to a good start because a loss would leave the rest of the team playing catch-up, but he looked forward to the challenge.
Having won 15 of the 22 David Cup matches he had played since making his debut in 2018, Henning was not only the top-ranked player in the SA squad, but he was also the most experienced.
“There’s a different kind of pressure playing Davis Cup in your home country, but it’s a good kind of pressure. That’s why we play tennis and why we go out on court every day (to prepare),” Henning said.
“I’m used to the pressure of playing the first match, so hopefully I can build some momentum for us.”
With their team having acclimatised to the conditions this week, Dzumhur said the Bosnia and Herzegovina players were fit, healthy and ready to dig deep against the SA side.
“We played a tie last year at a higher altitude, and the ball is moving faster here, but we’ve had some good practice this week and we have one more day to prepare,” Dzumhur said.