Marcos Ondruska helped to get South Africa back into the main draw of the Davis Cup 18 years ago when he was a player, and he's looking to do it again as captain. Ondruska and old friend and teammate Wayne Ferreira, who didn't take a cent to work as a consultant for SA's tie against Estonia last weekend, were youngsters when SA returned to the international fold after readmission in the early 1990s. SA had to start at the bottom in the Europe/Africa Group 3 in 1993, winning a tournament in Tunisia to advance to Group 2. That was the start of an impressive unbeaten run of 11 ties until 1995 as SA climbed the ladder into the main World Group. story_article_left1"Through it all we formed this incredible bond. Friendships were formed," Ondruska said after SA had beaten their eastern European opponents in their Europe/Africa Group II tie last weekend. "When you're in a pressure cooker and you're playing away and you've got 5000 screaming, crazy people going against you every time you lose a point and then this dead silence every time you win a point, the only people you have to look to is your bench."Back then SA was blessed with talented players such as Ferreira, who reached a career high world ranking of 6, Christo van Rensburg, 19, and Ondruska, 27. The players, who had all come through the now defunct supersquad system, believed they had a duty. "There was a sense of commitment to the cause, giving back as well and not just walking away," said Ondruska, the SA captain for a year. "We all enjoyed playing for the country and being part of this team competition where we're not out there playing for ourselves the whole time like we are the rest of the year."Ferreira's reappearance in the Davis Cup last weekend was a remnant of that old allegiance, coming at the request of his former comrade. Ferreira made it clear that future appearances would depend on his work and other commitments. But Tennis SA (TSA) CEO Richard Glover wants to get Ferreira more involved. "It's something we'd like to formalise," he said, adding TSA hadn't paid a cent towards Ferreira's trip. "He's doing it because he wants to."The system that produced Ferreira, Ondruska and others no longer exists, with the pipeline pushing out talent having long dried up. Glover wants to restore the factory belt, saying his federation's plan for 2024 is to have three players ranked in the top 200 of each of the ATP and WTA. story_article_right2Right now, Kevin Anderson, who last played Davis Cup in 2011, is the country's top-ranked player at 74, followed by Lloyd Harris (288) and Nik Scholtz (517).Ondruska believes Anderson is prepared to play again. "My conversations with him have been good. He's open to it," he said, adding his task would be easier with Anderson in the mix. Equally, he expects the current players to improve. "As these guys get better, which is the goal, we should be able to play over there [in higher groups]."Ondruska, a partner in a tennis academy in Atlanta, US, emphasises the camaraderie, which in his day included naughty fun. Like when he and his teammates were in Sofia, Bulgaria, where they stayed on the top floor of a hotel, overlooking a park."One of us brought this slingshot along. We filled all these balloons with water and we're out there sling-shotting all these people in the park, getting them all wet and these people are looking around, like 'Where's this water coming from? Why am I getting so wet?'."Stupid, but we were young kids - 19, 20, 21. "But it shows the spirit and festivity that was in the team at that stage too."sports@timesmedia.co.za..