Local emerging tennis star joins Davis Cup team
Rising South African junior, Sipho Montsi, from Pretoria, was named as part of Davis Cup squad for the tie against Estonia in April.
South African Davis Cup captain, Marcos Ondruska, has made no changes to his squad that will go guns-a-blazing into their Euro/Africa Zone Group 2 Round 2 Davis Cup tie against Slovenia from 7-9 April at the Irene Country Club.
The KIA South Africa squad to take on the Slovenians, comprises of Lloyd Harris, Nik Scholtz, Raven Klaasen, Ruan Roelofse and Tucker Vorster.
The same squad faced Estonia at home in February and won comfortably 4-1 to earn their sport in the Euro/Africa second round. A win in April by South Africa will see them playing for promotion into Euro/Africa Zone Group 1 next year.
Tennis South Africa (TSA) announced that rising star Sipho Montsi would join the squad as an official hitting partner. Montsi of Pretoria recently caught the eye of Judy Murray, mother of Andy Murray whilst competing in the junior Australian Open. Judy Murray commented that Sipho’s was “one of the most naturally talented players” she had seen.
“It feels great to be part of the Davis Cup squad at my age and as well as being the youngest player in the squad. It is always an honour to represent my country and I know I’ll learn a lot from the senior players in the squad as well as coach Ondruska. I’m really looking forward to it,” said Montsi.
Ondruska will be forced to trim the squad down to four players by the start of the tie, but he does at least have a plethora of riches to choose from.
Despite South Africa’s top player, Kevin Anderson, not making himself available for the tie, Ondruska said he was pleased that the country’s second highest ranked singles player, Lloyd Harris was available.
“I am delighted to have our strongest team together again. All players have been working hard and have had some good success on the ATP Tour since the previous tie and I’m hoping that supports what I am expecting to be an incredible tie. It will be our toughest test yet. All the Slovenian players are very good players, having been around the Top 50 in the world. I am confident in our side and it should be a spectacular event for tennis fans.” said Ondruska
Slovenia will be naming their side next week.
The South African team’s current ranking positions are: Lloyd Harris (274 singles, 777 doubles); Nik Scholtz (503 singles, 316 doubles); Ruan Roelofse (168 doubles); Tucker Vorster (633 singles, 269 doubles) and Raven Klaasen (10 doubles).
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