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Wayne Black

Ellina Mhlanga Sports Reporter
WAYNE Black is coming out of retirement to help the Zimbabwe Davis Cup team ahead of their Euro/Africa Group II game against Bosnia-Herzegovina in Harare in March this year.

Tennis Zimbabwe president Regis Bhunu says they were also maintaining the players who won promotion into the Euro/Africa Group II last year, for the tie against Bosnia-Herzegovina.

This will be Zimbabwe’s first tie after their promotion from the Africa Group III last year and is set for March 6-8 at Harare Sports Club.

The team is made up of captain Martin Dzuwa, Takanyi Garanganga, Tinotenda Chanakira, Mark Fynn, Benjamin Lock and Black, who is emerging out of retirement to help the team in their quest for success.

Dzuwa, who was the captain last year, will lead the team again this year and the coming in of Black is expected to add some experience.

Black was part of the Davis Cup team made up of his brother Byron, Kevin Ullyett and Genius Chidzikwe that reached the World Group in 1998 after beating Australia 3-2 away in the first round before losing to Italy.

“The team is going to remain the same except that there will be an inclusion of Wayne Black, who is coming in as a doubles player,” said Bhunu.

“It’s because of their performance and the ranking system is still the same. The selectors convened and realised that the ranking is still the same.

“The inclusion of Wayne is because he has always said that if there is a home tie he is ready to play, so we felt it was important to have him play.”

Bhunu said it’s going to be a tough tie but they were optimistic the team will do well.

“The team we are going to play, it’s a tough team and it’s a tough assignment so we needed to use all the resources available.

“Our expectation always is to win but you know this is a tennis match and anything can happen. But we believe we can make it,” said Bhunu.

The national association launched a sponsorship campaign late last year aimed at raising around US$100 000 to successfully host the match.

Bhunu yesterday said there were some companies that have come on board but they are still looking for more sponsors.

“Unfortunately, we have to meet it because there is no turning back, there is no way we can go back to ITF and say we can no longer host the match, we have to be optimistic.

“We are still running around, we still want some more money to ensure that we successfully host the tie.

“So it’s still an ongoing process and we are looking forward to get more sponsors. There are a number of companies that have come in with quite reasonable sponsorship.

“Depending on the sponsorship we get we can tone down on the things we need,” Bhunu said.

Zimbabwe gained promotion into the Euro/Africa Group II after beating Namibia 2-0 in the Africa Group III play-offs last year.