It might not be the climax to a dream of rekindled glory for South Africa's wavering tennis fortunes, but the announcement on Wednesday that the Euro-Africa Group 2 Davis Cup tie against Denmark would be staged at sumptuous Emperors Palace in mid-July can be viewed as a morale-boosting anointment.
"The Davis Cup is a fantastic event and it will now be played in South Africa at a fantastic venue," said South African tennis Association CEO Ian Smith at the resort on the outskirts of OR Tambo International Airport.
It will be South Africa's fifth clash against the durable Danes over a period of more than 50 years, with the countries standing at 2-2 in the wake of a recent rousing, an unexpected 4-1 victory in Finland.
A new outdoor stadium in the scenic Emperors Palace Gardens will seat approximately 1,500 spectators and will have a slow hard court surface -"which is what the players requested," revealed South African Davis Cup captain John Laffnie de Jager - and is embodied in high hopes that it could be "the start of something big."
Mark Jakins, Group Chief Commercial Officer of the Peermont organisation who own Emperors Palace and have already ventured into international boxing and other sporting ventures, said the company was examining various tennis propositions and would evaluate their policy in this respect after the Davis Cup tie.
The South African Davis Cup team, while still to be announced formally in a week or two, will almost certainly be headed by number one singles player Kevin Anderson and include Rik De Voest, Wesley Moodie and Jeff Coetzee, the other members of the victorious line-up against Finland.
The fitness of Denmark's leading player, the 124th ATP-ranked Kristian Pless, is currently in doubt and this provides South Africa with additional prospects of qualifying to play either Algeria or Monaco -with a victory in this instance earning a place in next year's Euro-Africa Group 1 format.
"Hosting the Davis Cup in such a manner," said Deputy Minister of Sport Gert Oosthuizen, "which with 124 competing nations is one of the biggest team events in the world, is undoubtedly a feather in our cap."
And present appropriately at Wednesday's announcement was former South African Davis Cup star Abe Segal, who played in the winning team against Denmark 45 years ago and recalled how one of the Dane's leading players, the colourful Torben Ulrich, had been unable to play in the tie because he was arrested after biting the nose of a policeman during a traffic skirmish.
(Xinhua News Agency May 29, 2008)