Grainger faces his Davis Cup acid test

JACK MILNER

The tie is taking place in the city of Mersin at the Mersin Tennis complex. It begins on Friday with two singles rubbers in which the No 1 player from one country takes on the No 2 player from the other country and vice versa. The next day sees the doubles rubber taking place while on Sunday they play the reverse singles – No 1 versus No1 and No 2 versus No 2.

Grainger stepped into the job as South African captain in January after the resignation of John-Laffnie de Jager and despite the low status of the Turkish team, especially as he will be without South Africa’s No 1 player Kevin Anderson, ranked 17 in the world.

Grainger is already the SA Federation Cup captain and they started the year with a bang by gaining promotion to Europe/Africa Group 1 next year.

With the Davis Cup team currently languishing in Group 2, Grainger will be looking to achieve the same feat this weekend.   

Without Anderson, Grainger announced a “best possible” squad to take on the Turks, comprising Raven Klaasen, Tucker Vorster, Fritz Wolmarans and  Ruan Roelofse.

For the first time since 2007 Fritz Wolmarans will be representing South Africa and at 427, is the highest ranked singles player in the named side. Raven Klaasen, who at No 29 is the country’s highest ranked doubles player, will be playing in his 11th tie for South Africa.

“As the new captain my main objective was to get the best team assembled,” said Grainger. “I made contact with Kevin Anderson and his agent and I had good positive discussions with both, but unfortunately Kevin said due to scheduling reasons he could not play against Turkey.

“I am hopeful that he will down the line play Davis Cup and I will continue to work hard at making that possible. Kevin will no doubt be a major asset to our Davis Cup team and his participation in the team will no doubt improve the team’s chances of success.

“Regardless of Kevin not being available, I am pleased Fritz is back in the Davis Cup fold and that Raven once again has shown his loyal support to his country by making himself available. With Tucker and Ruan also named, we have the best possible side to take on Turkey. It’s a very experienced team. It’s crucial for us to win this tie to give us any chance of promotion back to Group 1.”

Dean O’Brien has been named as a non-travelling reserve. “Dean can continue with his schedule but will be available should any of the four players named injure themselves ahead of the official draw,” said Grainger.

The squad arrived in Turkey on Monday and immediately got into action preparing for the tie. Speaking from Turkey, Grainger said he was very happy with the conditions. “We are very happy with our hotel and the stadium where we will be playing the tie. The facilities are great.

“My team are in real good spirit which will set a positive tone for the week”.

They will be playing indoors on a hard court and that should be fine for the South Africans. The Turks may have set themselves up for more success is they opted to play the tie on clay. At the time of writing the team had not yet had an outing on the official court. “After practice we will be able to give a better assessment of the hard indoor surface,” said Grainger.

With the exception of the Turkish No 1 player, Marsel Ilhan, who is ranked 77 in the singles, the two teams are fairly well balanced. The fact that South Africa has Klaasen in the doubles team will be hugely beneficial.

In 2014 Klaasen formed a new partnership with multiple Grand Slam winner Leander Paes of India, and at the age of 32, Klaasen is playing the best tennis of his career. He has enjoyed a solid run recently in Auckland, New Zealand at the Heineken Open where he and Paes won the title. At the start of the year, Klaasen and Paes reached the final in Chennai as well.