No Love Lost Between South Africa, Slovakia in Davis Cup

Posted on April 8, 2004

By Richard Vach

With much at stake, South Africa is going Davis Cup old school on Slovakia in their zonal tie this weekend, putting the claycourt-loving Slovaks on a super-soft grasscourt, with no apologies. No, not throwing-coins-and-threatening-players old school, but breaking out all the other stops in this race to get back to the elite World Group.

The winner of the zonal tie will advance to the World Group qualifying round in September, while the loser will be mired in another year of zonal play for 2005.

The visiting Slovaks would seem the favorites, led by three-time 2004 title winner Dominik "The Dominator" Hrbaty, but the wily South Africans may have cut The Dominator out of the picture with their choice of surface. Hrbaty is not at home on the low-bouncing grasscourts, so much so that speculation is that Slovak captain Miloslav Mecir may pull The Dominator from the singles altogether, instead electing to go with the two Karols, Karol Kucera and Karol Beck.

South African captain Kevin Curren, a former Wimbledon finalist, is playing hardball from the get-go with the choice of surface and an iron fist with the practice times.

"Although the Slovakian team wanted to practice on the main court, we refused their request," Curren said. "They will only be given an opportunity to do so a day before the tie. I believe they're not sure whether to include their number one player, Dominik Hrbaty, since he struggles on grass. Karol Kucera will play, and their number three, Karol Beck, could get the nod."

Ferreira says the grasscourts that have been laid out for tie are old school, harkening to the days when the grass was like your front lawn and claycourters didn't stand a chance.

"I don't like playing at Wimbledon these days, since it's like playing on hardcourts with a grass cover," Ferreira said. "The rallies are too long and there's no serve-and-volley action like there used to be 10 to 15 years ago. But you'll see players moving in to the net on their serve this weekend. That's how I like to play the game. One has to be aggressive, but nowadays everyone stays on the baseline (to) see whether they can outlast their opponents in long, boring rallies."

Curren says the extra-softness of the court is due to the rain, but Mecir is calling his bluff and saying the bounce is unnaturally low, so much so that it doesn't make for a fair contest, inferring he may be making a phone call to International Tennis Federation (ITF) officials.

Partnering Ferreira in his sprint to the net will be tour rookie Wesley Moodie, who has a 2-6 win-loss record this year at the tour level with wins over Todd Martin and Anthony Dupuis. It was only last year that Moodie was playing Futures events, one of the bottom rungs on the tournament ladder, but figured in Davis Cup wins over Poland, Portugal, and Denmark.

The South African doubles team of Jeff Coetzee and Chris Haggard have been getting some special coaching during the last two weeks from former World Doubles Championship/Masters Cup winner Piet Norval, the year-end champion in 2000 with American Don Johnson. Norval was forced into retirement after winning the World Doubles title in Bangalore, India, following a dune buggy accident, and is now coaching some of the top juniors at the Spier Tennis Academy in Stellenbosch.

"I was up here for a couple of junior tournaments and I asked Kevin Curren if I could help out with the doubles guys," Norval said.

Mecir says the doubles point will likely turn out to be pivotal.

"The doubles match is very special in Davis Cup, but at this stage I am not yet sure who going to play (for Slovakia)," Mecir said, with the possibility of Hrbaty sitting on the sidelines for both the singles and doubles. "Dominick (Hrbaty) plays good doubles but then so do all my players.

Ferreira has hinted that the next South African tie in September might be the time to announce his retirement. Since that contest would be a World Group qualifying round after a win this weekend over Slovakia, look for even more fire from Ferreira, Curren and crew before Sunday.

Richard Vach (rvach@comcast.net) is a senior writer for Tennis-X.com.