Namibia sends team to Davis Cup

Three Namibian tennis players will compete in the Davis Cup in Egypt next week. The Davis Cup, also known as ‘The World Cup of Tennis’, is the premier international team event in men’s tennis. It is run by the International Tennis Federation (ITF) and is contested annually between teams from competing countries in a knock-out format. Namibia is currently drawn in Zone Africa’s Group three with Algeria, Benin, Libya, Egypt, Tunisia, Mozambique, Nigeria and Ghana. At a media conference held at the Central Tennis Courts (CTC) in the capital on Monday, the Namibian team captain, Johan Theron, said three tennis players will represent the country in Cairo. “It will be a tough tournament, but the team is well prepared and we are hoping on doing better than during 2014. “At the moment we have Algeria and Egypt as the teams which are regarded as the best in Africa, but we will try our level best to cause an upset when the tournament kicks off,” he said. The players who will represent Namibia include Tuki Jacobs, who is the country’s number one tennis player, currently studying engineering in the United States where he is also playing college tennis. This will be his fourth appearance at the Davis Cup. The other players are Deon van Dyk, who will be making his third appearance at the Davis Cup, and Henco Serdyn. Serdyn will be making his fourth appearance at the tournament. In 2014, the team had four players, but this year only three players will be participating in the event. Namibia has competed in the tournament since 2000. At the last tournament in 2014, they ended fourth. The team travelling to Cairo represented Namibia at junior level in the past, while Van Dyk and Serdyn also represented Namibia at the recent 2015 All Africa Games in Brazzaville, Congo. The team is expected to depart from Windhoek today. It received a kit sponsorship from Sanlam Namibia of N$13 000, while Alexander Forbes contributed N$60 000 for the team’s preparation and accommodation. The Namibia Sports Commission (NSC) bought the players’ flight tickets. Speaking to Nampa after the sponsorship ceremony on Monday, Serdyn said this is the first year that the team has received such a large sponsorship and they are better prepared for the event this time around. HESRON KAPANGA