Can South African Host Davis Cup Again?

Written by: Staff on 20th September 2012

Can South African Host Davis Cup Again?

epa02922908 Rik de Voest of South Africa returns a backhand to Marin Cilic of Croatia (unseen) in his reverse singles match on the final day of the Davis Cup World Group Play-off between South Africa and Croatia in Potchefstroom, 150km west of Johannesburg, South Africa, 18 September 2011. Cilic beat De Voest 6-4 6-2 6-4 to clinch the play-off for Croatia to remain in the World Group. EPA/JON HRUSA |

While Davis Cup is often credited with bringing revenue to national tennis associations that don’t have the benefit of hosting a Grand Slam or another big tournament, not every country finds it easy to come up with the money to stage the competition. In fact, South Africa , which has a long and somewhat successful tennis tradition, could not come up with the funding to host last week’s tie against Canada , so it requested the tie be moved to Montreal due to financial constraints.

Now Tennis South African is saying that it hopes to host a future Davis Cup World Group playoff even though it is still financially under the gun.

“We don’t want to give a tie away again. We will have to play it here,” Tennis South Africa chief executive Ian Smith told Sapa. “We lose money every time we play in South Africa . Hosting a single (World Group) event costs in the region of R1.5 million (about $183,000 US dollars) and now going forward we just have to find the money. Giving away our right to host is not ideal for the sport. It took a couple of weeks of debating at board level and at the end of the day you are running a business. It was purely based on business sense and we had to act in the best interests of the game going forward.”

Smith added that every sport in his country has had its funding capped and there won’t be any additional government funding for Davis Cup in 2013.

While South Africa is one of the wealthiest nations in Africa , it is still experiencing economic woes even though its GDP has tripled over the past decade. Its unemployment rate is still high at over 25%, and per capita income is 15% of what it is in the United States . Mining is the driving force of the economy, representing almost 60% of exports.

Recent unrest at the mines is said to have cost the country $378 million this year alone.

©Daily Tennis News Wire

Topics: Canadian tennis news, Davis Cup 2012, South Africa tennis news, Sports, Tennis South African