Norval banks on Beckley to ease pressure on debutant as SA face Morocco in Davis Cup tie

SA Davis Cup captain Pietie Norval is relieved that SA No 1 Alec Beckley Beckley will be playing in the first rubber in the World Group II tie against Morocco at Groenkloof Tennis Club in Pretoria on Saturday and Sunday, feeling it would take the pressure off debutant Marc van der Merwe.

Beckley was drawn against Morocco’s No 2, Yassine Dlimi, in the opening singles match of the tie, while SA No 2 Marc van der Merwe was drawn against Morocco’s No 1, Taha Baadi, in the second clash. 

On Sunday, Beckley and Thando Longwe-Smit are set to face Dlimi and Younes Lalami Laaroussi in the doubles contest, ahead of the reverse singles matches. 

Both teams have the opportunity to change their doubles pairings up to one hour before the match on Sunday, as well as their selected players for the reverse singles, which could be done up to 15 minutes after the doubles match had concluded.

Norval was relieved to have Beckley playing first.

“I was hoping for that, seeing that you always bargain on your best player to come through on day one, and if he (Beckley) does that it takes a lot of pressure off that next match because we have a debutant playing in Marc van der Merwe,” Norval said.  

“I chose Marc as our No 2 because of the way he plays. He’s the type of player who is extremely consistent, so if he doesn't get blown away he can hang in there and kind of frustrate people, especially at high altitude.”

South Africa will be without the star of their last Davis Cup tie against Nigeria, Philip Henning, when they face the higher ranked Morocco. Norval is using the absence of some higher-ranked players who were either injured or unavailable to introduce some fresh talent to the international team tennis tournament.

The 19-year-old Leo Matthysen, who has experience in the Davis Cup, and 17-year-old prospect Connor Doig are part of the five-member squad. Norval has given the nod to debutant Longwe-Smit for the doubles rubber, pairing him with top seed Beckley.

"I've been watching Thando (Longwe-Smit) for a while, even before the last tie (against Nigeria earlier this year), and I was aware of him being a very good doubles player," said Norval, a former Olympic doubles silver medallist and French Open mixed doubles champion.

"He's a decent singles player as well, but arguably he could even be our best doubles player, so he's got a lot of responsibility on his shoulders as a leading player.

"You need someone to be ready because Alec will be slightly more tired when he plays."

Morocco, who are ranked seven places above their hosts in 51st position in the Davis Cup rankings, had spent a week at a high-altitude camp in Ifrane in preparation for conditions in Pretoria. The winners of the contest will progress to the World Group I promotion playoffs. The losing side will compete in the World Group II relegation playoffs.

Meanwhile, it was confirmed ahead of the draw at the Garden Court Hatfield Hotel in Pretoria that Joma had partnered with Tennis South Africa (TSA) as the federation’s official technical sponsor.