The tie will be played from March 4 to 6 at the Irene Country Club, Pretoria.
Muller’s exclusion in the nominated team named by the Luxembourg Tennis Federation on Tuesday, should be welcome news for South African Captain Marcos Ondruska and his squad as Muller posed a big threat to the South Africans especially at high altitude.
The talented left-hander is ranked 46 in world tennis and was ranked as high as 34 last year. Muller has boasted wins over several top ten players in recent years.
The team named by Luxembourg are; Ugo Nastasi, Alex Knaff, Tom Diedeich, Mike Scheidweiler with Johny Goudenbour as the non-playing captain.
The Luxembourg Tennis Federation have not yet stated the reason for Muller’s exclusion.
South African captain Marcos Ondruska has named his four-man team as Tucker Vorster, Lloyd Harris, Ruan Roelofse and Dean O’Brien.
Originally Ondruska also named Keith-Patrick Crowley as part of his squad, and Ondruska confirmed that Crowley would still travel to South Africa as part of the South African outfit.
“The rules in Davis Cup are that 10 days before the tie you have to name no more than four players to the International Tennis Federation (ITF)” said Ondruska.
“Keith-Patrick may not have been named on Tuesday but he still can be named to play as according to Davis Cup regulations, two changes may be made up until 1 hour prior to the draw, which is Thursday next week at 10am (9am is the deadline for the changes).
This applies to Luxembourg as Muller could still be included in their team,” continued Ondruska.
The teams announced are:
South Africa:
Tucker Vorster (single: 301, doubles: 434)
Lloyd Harris (singles: 339, doubles: 595)
Ruan Roelofse (doubles: 129 )
Dean O’Brien (doubles: 123)
Captain: Marcos Ondruska
Luxembourg:
Ugo Nastasi (singles:762, doubles:764)
Alex Knaff ( — )
Tom Diederich ( — )
Mike Scheidweiler (doubles: 1442 )
Captain: Johny Goudenbour
Source: African News Agency (ANA)
