SA No 1 Henning to kick off SA’s Davis Cup clash against Nigeria

The official draw ahead of the Renault SA Davis Cup team’s tie against Nigeria this weekend in Pretoria went exactly as the South Africans hoped for captain Pietie Norval, with the side’s top-ranked player, Philip Henning, selected to play the opening singles rubber on Saturday morning.

“To be quite honest, I was hoping for that with Philip being possibly the most experienced Davis Cup player that we have in the team at the moment,” admitted Norval afterwards.

“Logically, it would be good for him to play first, because if he gets out first, and he can get us ahead if it goes well, that puts a bit of more pressure on them and less pressure on us. So it kind of went our way there but let's see what happens.”

Henning will face Nigeria’s No. 2 player, David Ekpenyong, at Groenkloof Tennis Club before Kris van Wyk takes on Nigeria’s No. 1 Christopher Bulus later on Saturday.

After a solid week of adapting to the high altitude and newly laid surface in Pretoria, Henning is looking forward to getting the tie underway.

“I’m ready, I feel prepared and have been playing well this week, hitting the ball clean, so hopefully I can help the Renault Davis Cup team come out with the win… I'm sure it's going to be an entertaining match,” reckoned the 24-year-old.

'DIFFERENT PRESSURE'

Sunday’s action will get underway with the doubles match where the youngest member of the SA team, 18-year-old Leo Matthysen, will join forces with Alec Beckley to take on the Nigerian pair of Abua Canice and Michael Emmanuel.

Matthysen reckoned his past Davis Cup experience will help in dealing with the pressure of the contest.

“There's always pressure when you play for your country, it’s different pressure than playing for myself. I mean, I’m playing for a lot more than just me,” he explained.

“But luckily I have played doubles before for the country in my first Davis Cup [in 2023]. So I think having done that, it would maybe make it a little bit easier with handling the pressure going into this tie.”

Matthysen also pointed to the support of his teammates as playing a big part in his confidence ahead of the match.

“I'm surrounded by good players and a good team. So for me, it's very easy to go into the tie feeling good,” he said. “Having them around me is always nice because they have a lot of experience and I have a lot to learn from them too. So I'm going into the tie very confident and I think the team feels good.”

Matthysen and Beckley’s doubles encounter on Sunday will be followed by the reverse singles with Henning taking on Bulus and Van Wyk set to play Ekpenyong.

Norval pointed out that the mission for the weekend is simple.

“We want to make the country proud,” he said. “For the spectators coming out tomorrow, we want to be sure that we play to the best of our ability on the day and that's what we're going to be focused on,” said the captain.

The South Africa v Nigeria clash is one of 38 Davis Cup ties taking place around the world this week. Should the South Africans manage to defeat their west African rivals, they will avoid relegation from World Group II and earn the right to play in the promotion playoff to rise to World Group I later this year.