The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

SPENCER Newman has drawn to play Hugo Dellien in the frst singles match today and Phillip Major Jr will take on Federico Zeballos in the other match as the American Zone II Davis Cup tie gets underway today in Santa Cruz, Bolivia.

Speaking with The Tribune yesterday after the tie at the Club de Tenis Santa Cruz, player/captain Marvin Rolle said they are all in good spirits as they look to win the tie and remain in Zone II for 2018.

If they lose the three-day tie that will be completed on Sunday, the Bahamas will then be relegated to Zone III.

“Spencer was drawn to play the first match and so we are just going to go out there and try our best,” Rolle said. “We got a chance to play on centre court today. We didn’t have much of a chance during the week because of the rain.

“But centre court plays a little different from the other courts and we got a chance to play on it. But we are looking forward to it. PJ is also looking good and Justin is ready to support them. If he needs to jump in, he’s going to be ready. We feel good as a team.”

Rolle, who is scheduled to team up with Lunn to play in the pivotal doubles on Saturday, said the conditions have not been what they expected, but they have made the necessary adjustments.

“We haven’t gotten to practice much because today was the first dry day,” said Rolle of the few days the team spent there trying to get acclimatised. “I heard that it might rain tomorrow (today), but even if it doesn’t, we have to be ready,” he stated. “We know that they have to roll the clay on the court, so hopefully by the time we are ready to play, it will be good to go.”

As the first out of the gate, Newman said he’s looking forward to the challenge.

“Today, we got in two hits as the weather cleared up,” said Newman, who noted that his girlfriend has made the trek from Florida to join a small group of Bahamian supporters on the sideline. “So we got some dry courts and we got on stadium court. This is the best I’ve felt. We’re ready to go.”

Newman, the top seeded player for the Bahamas, will take on Dellien, Bolivia’s No.2 player who is ranked at 600 in singles and 619 in doubles.

Immediately following their match, Major Jr will take to the courts against Bolvia’s top seed Zeballos, who comes in ranked at 485 in singles and 361 in doubles.

“The last few days it was raining a lot and we didn’t get to practice like we wanted to,” Major Jr said. “This is part of tennis, so it’s okay.

“I’m feeling very well and I’m eager to play. I want to see what we can bring. Hopefully we can bring our A game. We can’t tell what the future holds, but I’m going to go prepared to do my best and see what that brings.”

However the tie goes, Lunn said he’s prepared to step on the court and play whenever he gets the nod from Rolle.

“By the look of today, everybody is playing good, everybody is playing solid. We feel good, we feel relaxed, we feel strong and we are ready.

“We want to bring home the W, but we will let the racket do the talking.”

After the two opening singles, Lunn and Rolle are scheduled to play the doubles on Saturday. In the reverse singles on Sunday, Major Jr is listed to play Dellien in the battle of the two No.2 seeds and then Newman and Zeballos are tipped for the ultimate showdown between the top two seeds.

But depending on outcome of today’s singles, that could all change.