Online Reporter
Tinashe Kusema
Zimpapers Sports Hub
JUST like their counterparts in the cricket Chevrons, Zimbabwe’s Davis Cup tennis team have fallen on hard times and are barely recognisable as the nation that once rocked in the World Group stage.
Yesterday, hosts Zimbabwe showed how low they have sunk when going down 3-0 to minnows Senegal on the opening day of the Davis Cup Africa Group III play-off tournament at Harare Sports Club.
The tournament features five teams — Algeria, Namibia, Senegal, Nigeria and Zimbabwe — and is being played in a round-robin format.
The top three teams at the end of the week-long tournament will get promotion into next year’s World Group II, while the bottom teams will be relegated to Africa Group IV.
Zimbabwe went into yesterday’s action as the second top-ranked side in the tournament but fell to a fifth-placed by gritty Senegal.
Senegal’s second seed, Andre Seydina, got the ball rolling as he made light work of Courtney Lock in straight sets 6-1, 6-4.
The hosts’ top seed Mehluli Sibanda proved to be his own worst enemy as he followed suit and lost his singles match 6-4,6-4 to Nicolas Jadoun.
What made Sibanda’s loss even more painful was the glut of unforced errors he committed, some of which saw him squander a 3-0 in the second set.
It would later be revealed that Lock has sustained a strain during his match, forcing Zimbabwe non-playing captain Gwinyai Tongoona to make alterations to his doubles pairing.
Up stepped brothers Ethan and Mehluli Sibanda, who made their Davis Cup doubles debut.
But they found the going tough and lost 6-3, 6-4 to the duo of Joudoun and Seydina.
This was not the start Tongoona expected but one he was quick to take on the chin.
Tongoona, however, remains hopeful and believes that the round-robin format ensures that they can still bounce back into contention.
He believes that this setback was a game of fine margins, especially considering that Lock sustained an injury during his match and it was only Mehluli Sibanda’s first competitive match since October last year.
“Yeah, it was not a good day in the office.
“It was a game of fine margins I think,’’ Tongoona said.
“Unfortunately, Courtney incurred a strain during his match while Mehluli had chances but did not convert them.
“He (Sibanda) was up three-nil in the second set and I think if he just managed the game better, he would have finished that set off.
“But yeah, that’s the game.
“Now, we just have to lick our wounds, correct our mistakes, come back and try again.
“The Senegalese played well but we were forced to change our doubles line-up and that did not really help our cause.”
Tongoona said they would now await the doctor’s advice on Lock’s injury.
“We have to see what the doctor says.
“Before the doubles match, they said it was not too bad.
“However, he is in pain and he can’t move, so he probably won’t play.
“We will have to put in one of the youngsters, try and fight for it.
The good thing Zimbabwe have going for them is that their top seed, Sibanda is healthy and eager to lead a fight back.
“We just can’t lose any more games.
“We have already lost one, so we need to try and get the other wins in the coming days.
“We can’t be praying for other teams to lose, we just have to count on ourselves to win the upcoming matches and just have to work hard,’’ he said.
Sibanda also blamed nerves and rust for his disappointing performance.
“I think the nerves got the better of me.
“I started to play better in the second set but it was really tough as this was my first competitive match since October last year.
“And then these guys have played like 15 weeks already this year.
“Playing alongside my brother was a highlight also.
“It was an incredible atmosphere with him on the court.
“It’s the first time we have played together in a Davis Cup match and we are really happy to get that accomplishment out of the way.
“Now, we just have to work hard in the next couple of days and try to win all our games”.
