Africa-Press – Zimbabwe. THE Zimbabwe Davis Cup team has been relegated to the Davis Cup World Group IV after suffering their third defeat in the Davis Cup Group III Africa tournament they are hosting.
The team’s struggles have been exacerbated by a series of injuries to key players.
Zimbabwe’s third loss of the tournament came with a 3-0 blow against Nigeria. This followed identical 3-0 defeats to Senegal and Algeria in their first two matches.
In their third-round match, both Courtney Lock and Mehluli Sibanda played through injuries —Lock with a thigh injury and Sibanda with a shoulder issue.
After the loss to Algeria, Lock spoke to the media about his efforts to manage his injury. “I did eight hours yesterday of ice and electrotherapy,” he said. “I did everything I could. I worked with the physio for three hours, and this morning I saw a specialised physio for electrotherapy for two hours as well.”
Sibanda also required medical attention for his shoulder during the second game against Nigeria.
Due to the injury, he was unable to participate in the doubles match and was replaced by his younger brother, Ethan. Sibanda revealed that the Davis Cup was his first competitive match in 10 months, having been out with an injury since last October.
“It’s my first match I’ve played this year,” he said. “I’ve been injured since last October. So I think the nerves got the better of me.”
The injuries forced the Zimbabwean team to field three different doubles pairings.
On the first day, Sibanda and Ethan played together, followed by Lock and Sibanda on the second day.
In the third match against Nigeria, Lock partnered with Ethan.
In the singles matches against Nigeria, Lock was defeated by Daniel Adeleye with a score of 6-3, 6-3.
Sibanda also fell to his Nigerian counterpart, Christopher Bulusi, with a score of 6-4, 6-4.
In the doubles, the pairing of Lock and Ethan was defeated 6-3, 6-1 by Nigeria’s Daniel Adeleye and Emmanuel Michael.
Zimbabwe is scheduled to face Namibia in their final match of the tournament.
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