One of the joys of the Davis Cup is that it can inspire some, and seemingly leave lasting scars on others when the non-elite are playing for glory. Paul-Henri Mathieu springs to mind. The tournament’s position, as both an annual event, and just where it slots into the calendar (generally immediately after the Slams) often comes under scrutiny.
Thankfully, Weintraub was not given the number of bumps matching his world ranking in Israeli celebrations
Weintraub’s excellent blog has highlighted the frustrations of the pros grinding away below the elite, the lure of World Team Tennis and the frustrations of just not being able to afford the support that higher level players have. With a bit of love, and a bit of an audience, and Israel and colleagues to play for, he transforms into an apparently different animal to the one wracked with doubt on the Challenger and Futures circuits.
He won both his singles in their World Group qualifier in Japan, beating top 100 pair Tatsuma Ito (in straight sets) and all the more impressively, Go Soeda in the final rubber. With Dudi Sela beaten in both his matches, the humble world number 214 rescued the tie for Israel, and put them back into the World Group. Weintraub also has a one handed backhand that deserves love, but at the age of 26 and having never broken into the top 150, the stats suggest he isn’t ever likely to fulfil the talent he shows in Davis Cup.
The glory and the five sets bringing out the best – rather heart-warming in a money chasing age. Someone please, find the man a full-time coach, as he has given the country’s tennis a significant boost.
While Weintraub and co were slugging it out in Tokyo, South African No.1 Kevin Anderson was resting with his feet up as they took on Canada in Montreal, where 21-year-old Nikala Scholtz, who doesn’t even have a singles ranking, struggled manfully with Milos Raonic. The tie was probably doomed when South Africa said they were too broke to stage it. Anderson wasn’t available, and then to top it off, their number 2 player Rik de Voest picked up an injury.
Anderson issued an open letter about his non-participation in the competition, noting his financial commitments he feels he has to make to keep his number 35 world ranking (eyebrow raising), help from Tennis South Africa (zero) and the fact he is a hired contractor who doesn’t have a pay cheque if he gets injured on international duty, unlike football players. In a cold economic sense, he has a clear case.
He also laid into the scheduling, which it has been said was agreed to by the players:
“It is ridiculous that in addition to the already demanding tour schedule, there are on average 3 Davis Cup ties a year. It is common for top players to make themselves unavailable to play Davis Cup, including Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Andy Murray. I would like nothing more than to see a new Davis Cup format that would make it easier for all our best players to compete.”
With Tennis South Africa broke, and the Johannesburg ATP 250 event now history, the only way to get top class tennis to South Africa now, is a World Group Davis Cup tie.A slightly battered white knight would have been much appreciated by his country.
The format should stay though, giving players another important taste of five sets, and a taste of team collective. It’s out of the normal with fiercely partisan crowds, and all that, benefits the sport, even if the top names can’t always be there.
