FED CUP SIDE

RELEGATED

THE SA Federation Cup team has been relegated from the Euro/Africa Zone Group II after they lost all three of their matches in Luxembourg last week.

The week concluded with a 2-0 defeat to Portugal, which was the SA team’s third group stage loss in a row. Earlier in the week, SA lost 2-1 to host Luxembourg and Israel.

Despite the convincing string of poor results, the SA captain Rene Plant attempted to take the positives from her side’s performances.

“It has been a tough and challenging week for the team. They have certainly given their best on and off the court and as a coach, that is all that I could ask for,” said Plant.

“We were best prepared as we possibly could be but the result did not go our way. We will continue to work hard to develop women’s tennis back in South Africa, and hopefully try to get back in Group II in the not too distant future.”

Despite the results, the young trio of Barnard, Imaan Hassim and Sinazo Solani will treasure the trip with the experience of Chanel Simmonds, Theresa van Zyl and Madrie le Roux rubbing off on them.

South Africa, who had been promoted to the much tougher Group II this year, will have a mountain to climb again but the young team will be taking home some good values from their time and matches played at the National Tennis Centre’s indoor hard courts.

“Unfortunately, the competition was extremely tough. Hopefully, the three young caps have learnt from this experience and will continue to improve and work on their game.”