The South African Davis Cup team’s tie against Bosnia & Herzegovina, being played this weekend (19 and 20 September) in Irene, got off to a positive start for the home team when the draw went perfectly according to Captain Pietie Norval’s plans.

When Lee-Anne Stanton, the General Manager for Marketing and Communications at Renault SA –who conducted the draw – pulled the name of Bosnia & Herzegovina’s number two player, Andrej Nedić, out of a tennis ball, Norval’s plans began to fall into place. After all, Norval and his team need to play a few trump cards, given that the visitors boast two very good players who will represent them in the singles rubbers.

The draw meant that South Africa’s number one player, Philip Henning (currently ranked 264th in ATP singles), would open the tie against Nedić in the first singles rubber, starting at 15:00 on Saturday afternoon.

Nedić is currently ranked 233rd on the ATP rankings, suggesting that he and Henning should be very evenly matched.

Norval’s first trump card was naming Kholo Montsi as his second singles player who is set to face Bosnia & Herzegovina’s top player, Damir Džumhur (currently ranked 100th on the ATP rankings), in the second singles rubber.

Although Montsi is currently ranked 704th on the ATP rankings, Norval believes this does not truly reflect his current form. Apart from the fact that he has played excellent tennis in recent months, Norval also believes his unique playing style could disrupt the Eastern Europeans – who play most of their tennis on clay courts and might struggle to adapt to the hard court at the Irene Country Club.

Alec Beckley, currently ranked 590th on the ATP singles rankings and expected to be South Africa’s number two player, has been named as the doubles partner for Thando Longwe-Smit, who is ranked 1364th on the latest ATP list. They have been drawn to play against Bosnia & Herzegovina’s Nerman Fatić (ranked 449th on the ATP singles rankings) and Mirza Bašić (ranked 923rd on the ATP singels rankings) in Sunday’s doubles rubber.

However, Norval told Rekord that there is a strong possibility his doubles combination could change, depending on the outcome of Saturday’s two singles rubbers.

According to Norval, the harder balls to be used in the weekend’s Davis Cup tie could also prove to be an asset for his team. These balls make the game much faster, and the Eastern Europeans – who play more tennis on clay courts with a different kind of ball – might struggle with the combination of harder balls and a faster playing surface.

There is plenty at stake for the South African Davis Cup team, with the winner of the tie advancing to the 2027 Davis Cup World Group I Play-offs and moving one step closer to competing at the higher level of the international team competition.

Saturday’s action in the Davis Cup tie begins at 15:00, and on Sunday the doubles rubber will kick off at 11:00, followed by the reverse singles rubbers.

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