Estonia have more than Raven Klaasen and his fellow players to worry about in this weekend’s Davis Cup tie against South Africa— they also have to deal with former singles ace Wayne Ferreira.
Ferreira‚ who boats more Davis Cup victories than any other South African‚ has been drafted into the Europe/Africa Group II clash as a consultant on the sidelines by team captain Marcos Ondruska.
“The idea is that as the week progresses I’m going to get to take a look at them‚” Ondruska said on Tuesday ahead of the draw on Thursday.
“Wayne’s going to take a look at them and we’ll start picking apart some things that they do well‚ and some things that they do less well.”
SA are ranked 58th in the world‚ well ahead of Estonia on 79‚ one spot higher than Namibia.
But Ondruska expects them to be a tougher proposition than SA’s first opponents at the same Irene Country Club venue in Pretoria a year ago‚ when they thumped Luxembourg 5-0.
“These guys [Estonia] are players and they’ve come here to play. You can kind of see it in their attitude and they way they were warming up and the things they’re doing …
“These okes are here to play and‚ with our stated goal of moving up into World Group‚ we’re hoping that they do. This’ll be a nice test for us.”
Ferreira‚ who like Ondruska lives in the US these days‚ met the team for the first time this week. “It’s a new experience for me‚” said Ferreira‚ whose 41 Davis Cup wins in singles and doubles matches remains a national record.
“I’m interested to watch Lloyd Harris play‚ I’ve heard a lot about him.”
Harris‚ 19‚ is SA’s highest-ranked singles player at 288‚ while veteran Klaasen is the top-ranked player in the tie with a doubles rating of 13th.
Klaasen pointed out that Davis Cup brought out the best in players.
“You’ve seen upsets in Davis Cup you don’t generally see in other sports codes and I guarantee you this weekend there will be more … When you put on the green and gold you expect a little bit more of yourself because you’re not just doing it for yourself.
“I’ve always felt this [playing Davis Cup] was an opportunity for me … it’s an opportunity for me to access people that have a knowledge base that I will want to tap into.”
He is the only player to have faced Estonia’s top player‚ Jurgen Zopp‚ losing 3-6 4-6 in a singles match in Uzbekistan in 2011.
Zopp‚ ranked 317 with a career high of 71‚ says the hard court surface will suit his team more than clay at this stage of the season.
“I think it’s going to be a very tight match … We have to play our own game.”
- TMG Digital
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