EURO/AFRICA GROUP 1
SA’s Davis Cup dreams savaged in Lisbon defeat
SA’s road to the newly established Davis Cup finals tournament suffered a major setback when they were relegated from Euro-Africa Group 1 in Portugal at the weekend. The 4-0 drubbing against Portugal in Lisbon sees SA drop to Euro-Africa Group 2 in 2019‚ which means they are unlikely to make it to the new 18-team finals until 2021 at the earliest. Without top player Kevin Anderson‚ who has not played Davis Cup for six years‚ SA were outgunned on the slow, red clay of the CIF-Club Internacional De Foot-Ball in the heart of Lisbon. "People will say we were underdogs going into the tie versus Portugal. Playing away‚ on clay‚ against a team of ‘top 200 ranked players’ we were always up against it‚" Tennis SA CEO Richard Glover said. "I disagree. These are just excuses. We lost both our Davis Cup ties this year [one at home and one away] and so the brutal truth is that we deserve to be relegated to Group 2. "When we were promoted last year it did not mean everything was suddenly rosy wit...
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