Home » South Africa’s Raven Klaasen 1 Match Away from Wimbledon Glory

South Africa’s Raven Klaasen 1 Match Away from Wimbledon Glory

It’s turning into a very South African Wimbledon with SA’s Kevin Anderson playing in the semi-final this afternoon, and SA’s Raven Klaasen making it through to the doubles final tomorrow, along with his New Zealand partner Michal Venus. Klaasen and Venus defeated the wild-card pairing of Denmark’s Frederik Nielsen and Britain’s Joe Salisbury 7-6 (6) 3-6 […]

By Jenni Baxter
13-07-18 22:56
in Fab South African Stuff

It’s turning into a very South African Wimbledon with SA’s Kevin Anderson playing in the semi-final this afternoon, and SA’s Raven Klaasen making it through to the doubles final tomorrow, along with his New Zealand partner Michal Venus.

LONDON, ENGLAND – JULY 12: Raven Klaasen of South Africa (L) and Michael Venus of New Zealand look on during their Men’s Doubles semi-final match against Frederik Nielsen of Denmark and Joe Salisbury of Great Britain on day ten of the Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Championships at All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club on July 12, 2018 in London, England. (Photo by Julian Finney/Getty Images)

Klaasen and Venus defeated the wild-card pairing of Denmark’s Frederik Nielsen and Britain’s Joe Salisbury 7-6 (6) 3-6 6-3 6-4 in Thursday’s semi-final clash.

The 13th seeds Klaasen and Venus will now take on Americans Mike Bryan (who has won Wimbledon doubles three times) and Jack Sock, the seventh seeds, in Saturday’s final.

This year Court One has been great for the South Africans where Klaasen won his semi-final just hours after Kevin Anderson shocked the tennis world by toppling the great Roger Federer (himself the son of a South African expat).

‘It’s incredible to have reached the final’ said Klaasen, ‘You come to Wimbledon every year and hope to do well and prepare yourself to get to this stage in the tournament and then to do a step better than my last semi-final (2016) showing here is fabulous.

‘I don’t want to get too excited, I need to regroup and recover and come out on Saturday with Michael and give ourselves the best chance of the title.’

Interestingly Klaasen’s opponent, 40-year-old Bryan (and his brother Bob) were defeated in the Wimbledon finals in 2005 by Durban-born Wesley Moodie and Australian Stephen Huss who made history as the first time a qualifier pairing were crowned Wimbledon doubles champs – a record which still stands today.

Saturday will mark Klaasen’s second appearance in a major final after he reached the championship round at the Australian Open in 2014.

Klaasen said he was overwhelmed at the support he, Anderson and wheelchair tennis ace KG Montjane had received from back home in South Africa.

’When you get a congratulations from your president then you know your efforts are recognised. We also got well wishes from the deputy minister of Sport and Recreation Gert Oosthuizen and minister of Sport and Recreation Tokozile Xasa which means so much. It really motivates us to see how many people back home are motivated by our success’ said Klaasen.

Kevin Anderson takes on John Isner this afternoon in the Men’s Singles semi-final.

Sources include: TeamSA.co.za