Coach Neville Godwin confirms Anderson is ready for the great opportunity
Chani Scheepers invited to the Anderson box for Wimbledon showdown
Wimbledon, London – Today will no doubt be one of the biggest day’s in the career of South African tennis ace Kevin Anderson.
Anderson (seeded 20) will take on defending Wimbledon Champion, Andy Murray (seeded 3) in the fourth round on Centre Court this afternoon.
Anderson is bidding to become the first South African man to reach the Wimbledon quarterfinals since Wayne Ferreira in 1994. Ferreira was also the last South African man to reach the round of 16 here in 2000. Kevin Curren holds the record for the best performance by a South African man at Wimbledon, reaching the semifinals in 1983. [Curren later finished as Wimbledon runner-up representing USA in 1985.]
Neville Godwin, Anderson’s coach (who reached the round of 16 at Wimbledon in 2004) confirmed that Anderson had enjoyed a good night’s rest and woke up feeling “pumped and motivated and ready” to take on Murray this afternoon.
After a light work out on court yesterday (Sunday) with Godwin, Anderson had his body worked on and conditioned by Johannesburg specialist physio Richard Sutton. The Anderson camp, which included Anderson’s wife Kelsey, Godwin and Sutton then enjoyed a quiet dinner in Wimbledon Village at the popular San Lorenzo restaurant.
“Kevin is ready to go” confirmed Godwin this morning. “Kevin slept well and we enjoyed a solid 30 minute warm up on the grass and I feel Kevin is as ready as ever for a great opportunity against Andy Murray.”
“During practice, Kevin was striking the ball well and serving on target. I was very happy with the way he was playing and his positive attitude going into this afternoon match” confirmed Godwin.
Richard Sutton said that he had been working hard on Anderson’s body and it was in good shape for this afternoon. “Kevin is a big guy and his body takes a pounding as a result on court. I have been hard at work giving Kevin long hours of treatment and we will have one more rub down early afternoon after he has had a light lunch so he walks onto court against Murray ready and fired up” said Sutton.
Anderson confirmed that he had invited South African number one women player Chani Scheepers as a special guest in his match court box this afternoon. The other persons sitting in Anderson’s box include his agent Stuart Dugid, an aunt and uncle, three cousins and representatives from his sponsors Lotto and Srixon.
Kevin Anderson will play Andy Murray second match after 13h00 London time this afternoon on Wimbledon’s Centre Court. The match will be televised live on SuperSport.
