A smile spread across the face of South African captain Kevin Curren when the name of his number-one player, Wesley Moodie, was drawn first on Wednesday for the Euro-African zone group-one Davis Cup tie against Germany in Johannesburg.
The tie will be played at the indoor tennis arena at Ellis Park from Friday to Sunday.
Moodie, South Africa’s number-one player, will play the German number two, Nicolas Kiefer, in the first match, and the South African number two, Rik de Voest — fresh from his victory in the Challenger tournament in Cherbourg last week — will take on the German number one, Tommy Haas.
South African veteran and former number one Wayne Ferreira will partner Jeff Coetzee against Rainer Schuetler and Alexander Waske on Saturday. The reverse singles, with the two number-one players on court first, will be played on Sunday.
”It’s exactly the way we wanted it,” said Curren. ”Wesley will be playing their number two in the first match, and if he can win, then we can cause a bit of panic in their camp.”
Moodie was also pleased with the draw.
”We have to win three matches to win the tie,” he said. ”If I can win the first one, it will get us off to a really good start, and will be a great help.”
Curren said he decided to play De Voest in the singles rather than Ferreira because De Voest has been playing very well.
”He’s looking very sharp at the moment,” said Curren.
Ferreira, who retired from tennis last year, said he is very happy to be taking a back seat in the tie. It’s the first time since 1991 that Ferreira is not playing singles in a Davis Cup tie.
”Rik’s playing better than me at the moment,” said Ferreira. ”He deserves to play. I’m just happy to be part of it again, and I want to do what I can for South African tennis.”
De Voest said he is feeling very confident after his tournament victory last week, and he thinks he will be able to take that confidence into the tie this weekend.
”I haven’t played in Johannesburg for a long time, but I’m hitting the ball well, and feeling very good about myself,” he said.
The German team captain, Patrik Kuhnen, said Germany are definitely the favourites to win, but they are taking nothing for granted.
”We have great respect for South Africa, and we know what they are capable of, but Germany’s four best available players are playing, the team spirit is very good, and there is an excellent understanding in the team,” he said.
Asked whether he was surprised when Ferreira was left out of the singles, Kuhnen laughed.
”Maybe I’m still expecting him to play,” he joked. No changes can be made to the first two matches, but the players for the doubles and the reverse singles can be changed up to an hour before the match. — Sapa