Watch out, there’s a new South African tennis hope

We might not celebrate it as much as we could, but South Africa has a rich history of success on the tennis court.

Only one SA player – Johan Kriek at the 1981 Australian Open – has bagged a singles title at a Grand Slam tournament.

Though it is admittedly less prestigious, however, the nation’s record in the doubles division has been impressive, with 57 victories in Grand Slam (men’s, women’s and mixed) doubles finals.

In addition, SA players have raked in six Olympic medals, making it one of the country’s more successful sports at the quadrennial Games.

Since readmission in the early 90s, three South Africans have managed to cement themselves among the world’s top players.

Wayne Ferreira climbed to No 6 in the ATP rankings in 1995 and Amanda Coetzer rose to No 3 in the WTA list in 1997.

More recently, Kevin Anderson achieved a career-high ranking of No 5 after progressing to the finals of the 2017 US Open and the 2018 Wimbledon Championships.

Unfortunately the modern era has seen a significant slide in the performances of local women – an issue which needs to be addressed by Tennis SA – but another men’s singles prospect looks set to shine as bright as his predecessors.

It would be premature to assume that Anderson won’t make a full comeback after struggling with injuries in recent years, but the big-serving 34-year-old player does seem to be past his prime.

Even if Anderson regains his best form, however, he’s going to have a tough time holding off a challenge from Lloyd Harris for the No 1 spot in the South African rankings.

Emerging from the lockdown in fine form, 24-year-old Harris reached the third round of a Grand Slam for the first time at the recent Australian Open, and this week he made heads turn again when he defeated his childhood idol, former world No 3 Stan Wawrinka of Switzerland, in the first round of the Qatar Open.

Though he went on to get knocked out in the second round, and will need to find some consistency to improve his ranking, Harris has displayed enough flashes of brilliance to prove he has tremendous potential.

Time, of course, will tell us whether he’s got what it takes to climb to the top, but he has already done well to hold his own on the global circuit.

And while the country might not have the depth to back him up, if his upward trajectory continues, Harris looks set to keep the SA flag flying at the highest level of the international game.

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