South Africa have been drawn to face hosts, Luxembourg, in their opening match of the Fed Cup Euro/Africa Group II tournament, which kicks off tomorrow (Wednesday) at the National Tennis Centre in Esch-sur-Alzette in Luxembourg.
The match is scheduled to be begin on Wednesday at 5pm SA time.
Team SA faces a strong home team – spearheaded by the experienced, Mandy Minella, who is currently 99th in the WTA singles rankings. However, the visitors contain a pair of seasoned Fed Cup campaigners in Channel Simmonds and Madrie le Roux and will be aiming for a positive start in their opening tie.
“We play our first game against Luxembourg on centre court, it will be a very tough match, but the home team will be feeling the pressure. They have a lot of support and expectations behind them,” SA team captain, Rene Plant, said straight after the draw on Tuesday afternoon.
The South Africans, who entered the draw unseeded, were promoted from Group III last year with Plant having set out a target for the team to remain in the group.
Part of the traveling team alongside Simmonds and Le Roux is Theresa van Zyl, Imaan Hassim and Sinazo Solani, who have all been in Luxembourg since Saturday to acclimatise to the conditions and to also get to work together as a team.
“We have a 50/50 chance, and we’ll be giving our best at all times. We look forward to the challenge and hopefully we can cause an upset, like we did last year against Montenegro, who were the home favourites then,” Plant concluded.