Davis Cup captain ‘very proud’ of Harris
SOUTH African Davis Cup captain Christo van Rensburg met Lloyd Harris for the first time this week, and said it was “amazing how strong the guy looks”.
Harris attributed part of his success at the US Open last week – where he reached the quarter-finals – to better fitness and physical strength that he was able to build up during long periods of inactivity due to the Covid-19 pandemic over the last 18 months.
“I was very excited a few weeks ago when I called him, and he said right away that he loves to play Davis Cup. Usually when players are getting very high up in the rankings, sometimes they shift their priorities,” the 58-year-old Van Rensburg, who won the 1985 Australian Open doubles title with American partner Paul Annacone, said.
“It was one of the easiest phone calls for me, and I was very proud of how he explained to me that he takes Davis Cup very seriously.
“I got to know him now – never met him before – and physically, it’s amazing how strong the guy looks. Taking confidence from winning and competing, and beating former No 1s can build that confidence.
“I am very fortunate to be on the court here with someone with that much confidence, and coming off the US Open, so it’s kind of excitement for me also.”
Harris (24) moved up to a careerhigh world ranking of 31 this week after his US Open heroics, but said he will try to remain available for Davis Cup ties in future.
He admits that he doesn’t know too much about the Venezuela team, whose best player, Ricardo Rodriguez, is at No 591 on the singles rankings.
The rest of the SA team consists of veteran doubles specialist Raven Klaasen, Ruan Roelofse, Sipho Montsi and Philip Henning.
“It’s a country in South America, and they have pretty good coffee,” joked Harris.
“I’ve done a little bit of research, when they released the names (of their players). It seems like they have some more veteran players for the Davis Cup team, who have played a lot of ties. They also have younger players, guys coming out of college, so it looks like they have a pretty solid team all-round.
“They don’t have a big name in the world rankings that we know, but they have done well in the Davis Cup in recent years with the team they have.
“I would love for us to keep playing and keep winning, and eventually get into that World Group. I would love that for our country and I would love that for myself, and I think that would be a huge achievement for us, to reach the World Group and be able to compete against the best teams in the world once again.”