After an opening ceremony punctuated by the crowd singing Happy Birthday to Nelson Mandela in honouring the great man’s 90th birthday, the South African Davis Cup team were in equally melodious song in taking a 2-0 lead against Denmark in a Euro-Africa Group Two Davis Cup tie at Emperors Palace on Friday.
It had been widely expected that South African number one Kevin Andersen would have little trouble in beating Denmark’s 675th-ranked number two, Martin Pedersen, while South African number two Rik De Voest might have his hands full in coping with a bombardment from the Danes’ big-serving number one, Frederik Neilsen.
Instead, these predictions were turned on their heads, with a pugnacious, surprisingly talented Pedersen testing an uneasy Anderson to the full before going down 7-6 (7-5) 7-5 6-2, while Neilsen succumbed to De Voest 6-3 6-2 6-2, offering scant resistance in the process.
”It was just one of those days when I felt I’d never handled a tennis racquet in my life before,” said a mournful Neilsen afterwards — with his crushing defeat leaving Denmark staring overall defeat in the face and South Africa set to clinch the tie in Saturday’s doubles and go on to a match-up against either Algeria or Monaco on the path to possible promotion to Euro-Africa Group One.
The 2m-tall Anderson — who stunned the tennis world earlier in the year by beating world number three Novak Djokovic and climbing from a 550th ranking to 95th in a matter of six months — admitted afterwards that he had felt nervous in what was his first appearance in South Africa.
De Voest played controlled, near-flawless tennis and allowed his wavering opponent to do the rest.
”I was recently referred to as a veteran at the age of 28,” he said after demolishing Neilsen, ”but I think I’m playing the best tennis of my career and if being a veteran is the reason, I’m happy to be called one.” — Sapa