Harris beat Mattias Siimar 7-5 6-3 on Sunday to finish the weekend unbeaten‚ although SA No.2 Nik Scholtz went down 6-7 (3) 3-6 against his counterpart‚ Vladimir Ivanov.
Ferreira‚ a former world No.6 in his day‚ was brought in for the weekend as a consultant by SA skipper Marcos Ondruska.
“I’m very impressed in the abilities of Lloyd Harris in particular‚ he has a good future ahead of him‚” Ferreira said on Sunday‚ adding the 19-year-old still had much to learn.
“He’s still young‚ plays like a young kid. But his fundamentals‚ and shot-wise he’s perfect. He’s got a good base.
“He just needs to develop as a player‚ right shot selections‚ working on a couple of things here and there to improve‚ but he definitely has a very bright future.”
Ondruska‚ who played Davis Cup alongside Ferreira in the 1990s and early 2000s‚ has previously said Harris is destined to make the top 20 in the world.
US-based Ferreira said his work and family schedule would determine whether he would be available for the next tie in early April. Slovenia‚ leading Monaco 2-1‚ looked like the likely opponents‚ which would mean a home tie for SA.
He was heartened after informal talks with new Tennis SA chief executive Richard Glover.
“I think Richard is a very positive man and he has some good ideas … and I think he’ll probably do a good job.
“It’s still early but I definitely have better feelings about it than I did say a couple of years ago.”
Ferreira said the federation had made a mistake by not previously tapping into former top players.
“One year we had 11 guys ranked in the top 100 in the world in doubles — there’s a lot of resources they could have used … I think Richard is very open to bringing those guys back in.
“A lot of countries do well because they hang onto their past players‚ they get good use out of them.”
- TMG Digital/TMG Sport
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