The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

WHILE the women will play directly out of the main draw starting on Wednesday, the men’s field will be made up of a qualifying round as the Bahamas Lawn Tennis Association kicks off the Giorgio Baldacci Elite Invitational Tennis Tournament at the National Tennis Center today.

So far, the top eight players who have secured their berth into the main draw when they start playing on Wednesday are Devin Mullings, Marvin Rolle, Justin Lunn, Jamaal Adderley, Rodney Carey Jr, Kevin

Major Jr, Philip Major Jr and Jodi Turnquest. They will all have to wait for the completion of the qualifying round, scheduled to start today, to determine who their opponents will be.

In today’s qualifying round, Kevan Ferguson will take on Dillon Walker. Cerone Rolle will meet Loren Woodside, while Shequille Taylor will face Robert Smith and Rashad Carey will battle Shannon Francis in the first matches at 9am.

Not before 10:30am are the other matches with Johnathon Taylor vs Jamaal Hoyte, William Fountain vs Denard Francis, Justin Higgs vs Desmond Russell and Stafford Armbrister vs Brazile Hamilton. There is one other qualifying match that will be played on Tuesday.

On the women’s side, only eight players have signed up and they have all been placed in the main draw.

Simone Pratt from Grand Bahama will be seeded number one, followed by Kerrie Cartwright, Nikkita Fountain and Grand Bahamian Larikah Russell at No.4. On Wednesday when they begin play in the main draw, Pratt will take on Erin Strachan, Russell will face Chelsi Russell, Fountain tackles Danielle Thompson and Cartwright will face Gabrielle Moxey.

As far as BLTA president Derron Donaldson sees it, the field in both divisions are very strong.

“Just from the guys entries alone we are shocked because in this tournament in the past, they only took the top 16 players,” he said. “But we were able to draw about 26 players to compete, so it’s a good

thing. Like I told the players, we are trying to get the best players and when you limit it to 16 players only, we’re doing ourselves a disservice in trying to get the best team to represent the country.”

From the tournament, Donaldson said the BLTA will not select the teams to represent the Bahamas at the Davis Cup for men in June and the Fed Cup for women in July because the time frame is just too long.

“We need to hold the players accountable to keep dreaming after December,” Donaldson said. “We don’t want it to be a case where they win this tournament and they don’t do anything and we still send them

away. We’re trying to win the tournament and so we need to revisit the players who will eventually be named to the teams.”

Donaldson said the BLTA executives will do that in consultation with whoever is selected to serve as the captains for both teams.

“The captain will then probably invite the top 6-8 players out of this tournament to come together to work out and play doubles and make their assessment to the board on who they feel is the best team to

represent the country,” Donaldson said. “We don’t know yet how we are going to finalise the teams. We’re still working that process out. But we have plenty time to select the best teams to represent the

country.”

During the players’ meeting and opening of the tournament, Baldacci’s wife was in attendance and she expressed her gratitude to the BLTA and the players for their support in their time of bereavement for her late husband, who assisted the sport and a number of players.

Also in attendance was Rommel Knowles, the secretary general of the Bahamas Olympic Committee, who spoke on the Bahamas Government subvention to the athletes and Olympic solidarity.

Donaldson said the players are all excited about the new format being implemented this year and he’s looking forward to some keen competition over the course of the week.