Former Olympic silver medallist Pietie Norval has been appointed as South Africa’s new Davis Cup tennis captain.
Norval replaces Christo van Rensburg at the helm of the SA men’s team for the next four-year cycle.
His first task will be to lead the SA men against Nigeria in their World Group II playoff clash in Pretoria in February.
As a player, Norval is best known for winning a silver medal in doubles alongside Wayne Ferreira at the Barcelona Olympics in 1992. They lost in the gold medal match to German legends Boris Becker and Michael Stich.
HAVE YOU ALSO READ?: Tennis SA paints bleak picture
Norval won 14 career titles in doubles, which included winning the mixed doubles at the French Open in 1999. Norval and Slovenia’s Katarina Srebotnik beat America’s Rick Leach and Latvia’s Larisa Neiland 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 in the final.
After retiring from professional tennis in 2001, Norval started the Norval Tennis Academy which has seen him coach multiple international players and guide 53 juniors to national titles.
“It’s a huge privilege for me to be appointed as the next Davis Cup captain. It’s amazing and I am really excited at the prospect of being able to be of service to my country in this regard,” Norval said a statement released by Tennis South Africa. “I’ve done it on the tennis side for so many years and the last thing for me was to be appointed as my country’s Davis Cup captain, so it’s a huge honour and I really hope I can make a difference for the team. I’ve got quite a bit of experience from the past as a player, having learned from different Davis Cup captains and how they’ve done it under pressure, and I hope I can take that experience with me into the next few years. I’m going to give it 100% and hopefully some of our younger players will progress in the next few years and we can get back into that World Group where I think we belong.”
Meanwhile, TSA also confirmed that Roxanne Clarke has retained her position as Billie Jean King Cup captain.
