The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

NEWLY acquired brothers Baker and Spencer Newman along with team captain Marvin Rolle and Kevin Major Jr put on an exhibition for the spectators on Friday before they left to represent the Bahamas at the American Zone III Davis Cup Tie.

The quartet will make up Team Bahamas - they departed yesterday - on the outdoor clay courts at the Club de Tenis La Paz in La Paz, Bolivia, July 11-16.

Elwood Donaldson, president of the Bahamas Lawn Tennis Association, said they were happy to have the Newman brothers from Florida secure the top two spots on the team during the Giorgio Baldacci December Invitational at the National Tennis Centre. Major Jr won over Rolle last month to clinch the final two spots.

The BLTA, however, had to pay a hefty fee of $9,500 to the United States Tennis Association to include the Newman brothers on the team. It was reduced from the original price of $27,400, which was secured through the efforts of the Florida community where the Newman brothers reside, their family and friends and the BLTA.

Donaldson said they are delighted to have the services of the Newman brothers, who he hopes will help the Bahamas to finally get out of zone III this year and back to zone II with the view of eventually competing in Zone I again and challenging for a spot in the prestigious World Group.

“We expect great things out of them,” Donaldson said. “We’re pretty excited. The Newman brothers were newcomers to the Giorgio Baldacci Tournament and they showed that they are both competent players in making the finals and on the way to the finals they defeated our number one and two players, Rodney Carey and Philip Major Jr.

“It wasn’t no easy part for them, but we feel that they bring some solid tennis background to the team. Baker is a collegiate player and Spencer is pursuing his professional career. We had to had them release from the USTA, so these are talented guys who they were interested in.”

The Bahamas will be matched in the zone with Bolivia, Cuba, Jamaica, Trinidad & Tobago, Panama, Honduras, Costa Rica and Bermuda in a round-robin format in two pools - one pool comprising of four teams (Pool A) and one pool of five teams (pool B).

The winner of Pool A will playoff against the runner-up of Pool B and the winner of Pool B will playoff against the runner-up of Pool A to determine which two nations will advance to Americas Zone Group II in 2017.

The Newman brothers are the son of Eric Newman, who was born and raised in the Bahamas by his father Edward Newman before he relocated to the United States to work.

“This is something that we really want to do,” said Spencer Newman, who is playing the ITF Futures Circuit where he achieved an ATP ranking of 1330 and just recently won the 2016 Reel Tennis Open.

“I believe that with the four of us, we are going to play together and try to pull this off for the Bahamas.”

Baker Newman, a member of Vanderbilt University men’s tennis team, said they are ready to make their contribution to Team Bahamas.

“For the past few months, we have been working very hard,” Baker Newman said. “We are both confident that we can help the Bahamas to move out of Zone III.”

As the team captain, veteran Marvin Rolle said the Newman brothers have definitely given the Bahamas the edge to get over the hump.

“The Newman brothers have showed that they put at a high level and Kevin Major has been on the team before, so I will try to help them as much as I can,” Rolle said. “Playing for your country is totally different from playing for yourself, so we just have to work together and hopefully we can come out with the victory.”

Rolle noted that Spencer Newman has played for the Florida Gators under coach Mark Merklein, who was a former player for the Bahamas and Baker Newman is now at Vanderbilt and the exposure that they have gotten should make the difference on the team.

And Major Jr said with the squad that the BLTA has put together, there’s no reason why they can’t be successful.

“I feel as long as we do what we need to do, we can win,” he said.

Cerene Rollem, who introduced the Newman brothers to the BLTA in December when they played in the tournament, said this is probably the best team that the Bahamas has assembled in 10 years.

“I feel very confident. I think they will bring us back to zone II,” he said.