Online Reporter
Tinashe Kusema
Zimpapers Sports Hub
GWINYAI TONGOONA cut the figure of a totally relaxed and rather pleased man!
The Zimbabwe coach had just watched his team drawn against Senegal for the start of the Davis Cup Africa Group III competition, which officially kicks off this morning, and was feeling rather confident about his charges’ chances.
“It’s going to be a tough match but we are looking forward to it,” said Tongoona.
“I think we have prepared well; we know the court and the conditions here so I am very pleased.
“We have had a very good run-up to the tournament; the lads practised hard every day and we managed to cover and work on a lot of crucial areas,” he said.
Zimbabwe are playing host to the Davis Cup Africa Group III competition at Harare Sports Club amid aspirations of earning promotion to the World Group II Play-off next year.
The tournament, slated for August 12-16, will be played under a round robin format and includes Algeria, Namibia, Nigeria and Senegal.
The stakes are very high as the top three countries in the pool will be promoted to the World Group II Play-offs, while the bottom two will then be relegated to Africa Group IV.
Zimbabwe, for the second time, go into battle without their talisman and top-ranked player in Benjamin Lock as he is yet to fully recover from an elbow injury.
However, the hosts do welcome back Mehluli Sibanda, who missed Zimbabwe’s last Davis Cup match against Morocco due to back issues.
“We knew beforehand that Benii (Lock) would not be available so that helped us plan ahead,” said Tongoona.
“We have also played a tie without him and the guys know what is expected of him.
“Obviously, we know with Benji we are a much stronger team but it is what it is. We hope he recovers soon and back with us in time for our next outing.
“I am just glad Mehluli is back and fit again.
“We didn’t have him last time and his return is a big plus for us.
“He is a great player who strengthens our singles and our doubles teams, so we are in better shape than we were back in February,” he said.
The duo of Sibanda and Courtney Lock will be in action this morning and play the singles matches as the number one and two seeds respectively.
Tongoona has decided to leave it late to decide on his doubles pairing but seemed to lean towards bringing the two together for the doubles match.
He also has the duo of Ronan Mtisi and Ethan Sibanda to choose from for the doubles match.
“Fitness-wise, everyone is looking good and ready to play,” he said.
“We do not have any injury issues, so that is good.”
Zimbabwe’s opponents, Senegal, have vowed to give the hosts a good run for their money.
Tennis Zimbabwe officials oversaw the draw in which the teams were paired up according to their rankings.
Namibia go into the tournament as the top ranked teams at 75 in the world while Zimbabwe are two rungs down in second place.
Nigeria are ranked 77th while Senegal (88th) and Algeria (96th) wrap up the pool.
Namibia kick off festivities against Algeria while Zimbabwe face off against Senegal.
Nigeria have a bye on the first day.
“Like every other team in this competition, we are here to win and earn promotion,” said Senegal player Hassimiyou Dieng.
“Zimbabwe are a very strong side and we expect a tough match.
“We know some of their players who we played two years ago and lost.
“It was a tough loss, but it was a close one. This year we have our two best players back, we are feeling pretty confident and we will see how we fare against them.
“We know they are the host nation and so the crowd is definitely going to be on their side.
“However, we have a good group, a solid group and we are just going to try and get the win,” he said. Dieng seemed surprised to find out his nation’s ranking and quickly rubbished the notion.
“I think rankings are just numbers. We will see what happens once on the court,” he said.
Peter Tanyanyiwa