TENNIS:Jon Swift
IT is well, with the weekend’s Davis Cup World Group tie at Durban’s Westridge Park in view, to keep an eye on the quintessential cornerstone of the Russian psyche – hardship is not a new phenomenon, it is to be both expected and endured.
The Russians go into the crucial five-match encounter suffering the double blow of being without their top player, Yevgeni Kafelnikov, and missing Alexander Volkov.
And yet, the doubts still linger more in the South African court than in that of the opponents who took them apart in the chill of Moscow two years ago.
There is no doubt that the Davis Cup has brought a new sense of togetherness and nationhood into the often distantly aloof business of professional tennis in this country. It is also right that this nation-on-nation tournament has given a sport which had reached its administrative nadir some respectability in the eyes of the average member of the South African sporting public.
But it must not be forgotten that the same competition has delivered some astounding lows, most notably when the South Africans disintegrated into the clinging red clay of Rome against the lowly ranked Italians last time out.
And again this time around much hangs on the talents of Wayne Ferreira. It is an often unfair burden and, it must be added, to have played as well as he did in Rome with badly damaged feet, Ferreira showed both personal guts and determination. His subsequent vilification was as undeserved as it was unearned.
But it is essential to the South African cause that Ferreira win both his singles encounters against Andrei Cherkasov and Andrei Chesnakov if this country is to advance to the semi-finals.
It is asking much of a single player in what is essentially a team competition – especially as he will doubtless be expected to contest the doubles as well – but one he is used to.
Ferreira’s recent record in Davis Cup matches is also not of the quality you would expect of a man who is in and out of the world top 10, having emerged on the wrong end of the last five singles and doubles matches he has played for his country.
More importantly, a loss against the Russians leaves South Africa having to play-off next year to gain the all-important entry into the World round.
And, once again, the Ferreira factor emerges in this unhappy eventuality. Much as he says he enjoys the honour of playing for his country, Ferriera is unlikely to want to break away from a tournament schedule which is aimed at bringing him that one step up into the real upper echelon of the game.
It makes the equation of how Davis Cup captain Danie Visser balances the rest of his squad – Marcus Ondruska, Grant Stafford, Ellis Ferreira and Neville Godwin – even more important. We cannot continue relying on one man to make the difference .
The Russians have accepted their problems, and stoically gone into the tie with only three players – the third completes the trio of Andreis, Olhovsky in this case.
It is something that we could learn from and, indeed, will need should we beat the Russians and face a probable quarter-final meeting against Sweden.