Namibia finds the going tough at BJK Cup

Namibia has found the going tough at the Billie Jean King Cup after losing their opening two matches at the Africa Group III tennis tournament that is currently underway in Windhoek. 

Namibia lost their opening two matches in Group A against Morocco and Madagascar and will now have to beat Burundi in their final group match today to make sure that they are not relegated to Group IV of Africa. 

If they lose to Burundi, they will go into another round-robin tournament against the Group B and C losers, with the overall loser getting relegated, so it’s not completely over, but they will ease the pressure with victory today.

On Monday, they suffered a comprehensive 3-0 defeat to Morocco, who currently lead Group A after having won their opening two matches without conceding a set. 

Namibia’s number two singles player Mari van Schalkwyk lost 6-1, 6-1 to Malak El Allami, while Namibia’s number one Kerstin Gressmann lost 6-2, 6-3 to Yasmine Kabbaj. 

Gressmann and Joanivia Bezuidenhout then teamed up for the doubles where they lost 6-2, 6-0 to El Allami and Diae El Jardi.

Yesterday, Namibia provided stiffer resistance against Madagascar before losing their tie 2-1. Gressmann, playing as Namibia’s number two, had a great opportunity to win the opening set against Iariniana Tsantaniony but squandered a 4-0 lead before losing the tiebreaker 7-6. Tsantaniony then took control to win the second set 6-0 against Gressmann, who was clearly rattled. Afterwards, Gressmann said her nerves got the better of her.

“I was leading 4-0 in the tiebreaker but then I lost it so that was unfortunate. It was very mental today, unfortunately, I let the nerves get to me, but it happens and I’ll try and be better next time.”

In the second singles match, Namibia’s number one for the day, Liniques Theron lost a tough three-setter 6-1, 3-6, 6-2 against Miotisoa Andrianantenaina. That gave Madagascar the win in the tie but Theron and Gressmann restored some pride as they beat Randy Rakotoarilala and Elisoa Andriantefihasina 6-2, 6-4 in their doubles encounter.

Namibia will now take on Burundi in their final Group A match today while Morocco faces Madagascar in a top-of-the-log clash to determine which team qualifies for the top-three second round competition where the winning team will gain promotion to the Africa/Europe Group II group.

In Group B, Nigeria and Botswana took the lead after both won their opening two matches. They take each other on today to determine the group winner, while Ghana faces Uganda, with that loser going into the losers round-robin tournament.

Kenya and Zimbabwe lead Group C after they both won their opening two matches and will meet in a top-of-the-log clash today, while Algeria and Tunisia will battle it out to avoid the bottom position.

The vice president of the Namibia Tennis Association, Vekondja Kuzee, said they had a lot of catching up to do. 

“The results have been disappointing so far but it just shows the level of tennis that we are up against and that we have a lot of catching up to do. We now have to beat Burundi if we want to avoid the relegation pool,” he said.

“We have received positive feedback so far regarding the organisation, the transport, and logistics. The only problem has been regarding visas because some countries could not get their visas on arrival at the airport, but we managed to sort that out and it did not delay the tournament,” he added.

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