The Sunday Mail
Brighton Zhawi
STANCILAS Wawrinka, Alexandra Zverev and Marin Cilic are some of the names the Locks will be discussing over dinner as they celebrate Martin Lock’s 60th birthday over the Easter Holiday. The former Tennis Zimbabwe president turned 60 on March 30 but the family will celebrate over Easter.
One of Lock’s sons Benjamin, now ranked 548th in the world, is slowly becoming big in tennis, after recording his first ever win over a top 100 player when he beat Romanian Marius Copil, ranked 80 in the world, in the Davis Cup last week. Copil, who has beaten Swiss star Wawrinka, 3rd ranked Alexander Zverev and former US Open champion Marin Cilic in the last six months, was Lock’s victim when the two clashed in the first rubber of the Davis Cup Europe/Africa Group II tie in Romania last weekend. Zimbabwe lost 1-4, but Lock’s success remains a major highlight of the tie not only for him personally but for Tennis Zimbabwe as well.
“For me personally it was a huge weekend getting my first top 100 win against a very good and an experienced player,” Lock told The Sunday Mail last week from Nigeria where he is playing at M25+H Abuja.
“Obviously we were extremely disappointed that we lost because the week of preparation we had as a whole team was unbelievable.
“Captain Gwinyai Tongoona did a fantastic job and we were all in such good shape.”
The 26-year old Lock takes his win over Copil as a massive boost.
“For me its unbelievable confidence booster, I think that I am really at another level now in my game.” “Now it makes me hungrier. I have to be playing at the Grand Slams so I have to be consistent. That’s my mindset at the moment,” said Lock, who revealed loss of form and subsequently confidence at the beginning of the year. “This year in doubles it has been really good with Courtney (his brother) we have been doing well, and singles for me it has been a tough start. “Mentally I don’t think I was in a good space beginning of the year. I took some time off and I worked really hard in Florida in the heat, I trained really hard there and then practiced hard in Romania for Davis Cup.”
From Abuja, Ben and Courtney will tour Europe, but before embarking on that journey, they will stop in South Africa for dad’s birthday.
“We are coming back to South Africa for a week to see the family, it’s my dad’s 60th birthday, and after that I will be going to the red clay in Europe for three months with my brother.
“We will be playing a mixture of ATP Challengers and 25 000 dollar tournaments, but hopefully it will be more challenging.”
