The 24-year-old Kevin Anderson emerged as South Africa’s latest sporting hero at Montecasino on Sunday after beating India’s Somdev Devvarman 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 in the rain-interrupted final of the South African Open.
It was an initial ATP triumph of no mean proportions for the Johannesburg big server in his home town — becoming the first South African tennis player since Christo van Rensburg in 1989 to annex the South African Open title and, in the process of earning his biggest purse of over R500 000.
Anderson secured his best world ranking from a present 59th when the new ratings are announced on Monday — vaulting to a position higher than any South African since Wayne Ferreira became a top tenner.
Anderson said afterwards that it was “the finest moment of my tennis career”.
“But hopefully this is just a stepping stone and I can continue to make progress during the year towards my aim of becoming one of the top 20 players in the world.”
No easy path
But it was not an easy path to glory on Sunday for a player who has enjoyed a fair share of ups-and-downs during his career.
He looked decidedly vulnerable when he dropped an early serve and trailed 1-3 in the first set in a game that finished five hours after it had started because of the rain and vacillated in favour of one player to the other at regular intervals.
The rain break might have been a major factor in Anderson’s ultimate success, enabling him to re-evaluate his tactical approach with coach Louis Vosloo, make occasional telling sorties to the net and concentrating on Devvarman’s weaker backhand side.
Anderson’s more enlightened tactical approach seemed to seep the confidence from the calculated Devvarman’s play, with the 110th-ranked Indian beginning to make the kind of errors he had not displayed in the tournament before.
Anderson has committed himself to playing the Davis Cup this year. — Sapa