TENNIS – Tennis star Arianne Hartono from Meppel has been selected for the Dutch team for the first time by the new team captain Elise Tamaëla. The Orange squad will play a qualifying match with Spain on April 15 and 16 in Den Bosch in the Billie Jean King Cup tournament.
Hartono, who rose to place 162 in the world ranking, announced earlier this year that he would like to play for the Netherlands. She was also approached to represent Indonesia. “But I was born and raised in the Netherlands, so I also want to represent that country,” said Hartono, who reached the main tournament of the Australian Open in January through the qualifications. She made her debut in Melbourne at a grand slam tournament.
In addition to the 25-year-old debutante, Tamaëla has also selected Arantxa Rus, Lesley Pattinama-Kerkhove and doubles specialist Demi Schuurs. Russian is number 69 in the world ranking, Pattinama-Kerkhove is in 136th place. Schuurs is the world’s number 16 in doubles. The duel with Spain will take place on clay in the Maaspoort in Den Bosch. The winner qualifies for the Billie Jean Cup Finals, which will be played in November.
‘Huge challenge’
“We have a good team, our strongest players will play and I am very happy with that,” said Tamaëla, who will make his debut as captain of the Orange squad in the Billie Jean King Cup. She took over that task from Paul Haarhuis, who led the team for seven years. “It will be a huge challenge to qualify for the Billie Jean King Cup Finals. Spain has a very strong team with two players in the top 10, Paula Badosa and Garbiñe Muguruza. And if these players don’t come along, they still have a strong team.”