Davis Cup Matches In Danger

Mr Andrej Jeras, Team Director of the Slovenian Davis Cup team scheduled to play their Ghanaian counterparts in a Euro-Africa Zone Two rubber has stressed the importance for his team to quickly adjust to the hot humid weather if they are to make any meaningful impart in their three -day encounter against Ghana.

In an interview with the GNA Sports in Accra, Mr Jares said the hot weather has been one of their major headaches since they arrived in the country last Sunday adding it has severely hampered their training programme.


"Even though we knew it is hot here at this time of the year and came in a bit early to acclimatise, we least expected such hash humid condition considering the fact that we are just coming from the cold of winter of Slovenia".


The encounter with Ghana is scheduled for the Accra Sports Stadium Tennis Court from Friday, 4th to Sunday 6 April.


He said even with the unfriendly weather the team is gradually getting into shape and adjusting also to the slightly faster hard court surface on which the match would be played adding that his players are more at home with the slower clay surface they are used to back home.


"In Slovenia as in most European countries we play on clay which suits our baseline game, but luckily we have one player who is a serve and volley which suits the hard court game."

Mr Jares is leading a six-man delegation made up of four players and a team captain who would do battle with a yet to be named Ghanaian team.


The team would likely be led into action by Marko Tkalec, Slovenian's number one seed ranked 275 in the world whiles Andrej Kracman, with a world ranking of 409 in singles and 272 in doubles world would be the number two seed.


The other players making the team are Matija Zgaga, ranked 748 in the world and Bostjan Osabnik who has a world ranking of 807.


He said even though they knew some of the Ghanaian players; having beaten them 4-1 in zone three last year, they are not taking chances since in such matches home support plays a major part in determining the eventual winners.


"Ghana has very good players in Gunther Darkey and Henry Adjei-Darko who did very well the last time we met and we are expecting a much tougher opposition in Accra this time around".

Mr Jares hopes to split the opening day's reverse singles encounter and win the doubles encounter to make the final day play very open with every team having equal chance of winning the rubber by the close of Sunday. Slovenia who has been playing Davis Cup tennis since 1993 has been in the Euro African Zone one twice and have come close on two occasions to qualifying for the lucrative world group but were on both occasions beaten by Zimbabwe.


He said tennis has a wide following in Slovenia especially among the ladies where they have three players ranked among the first fifty players in the world.


The winner of the best of five-match rubber would in July, meet the winner of the Denmark-Tunisia tie to determine who would cruise into Zone One.