The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia,net

DORAL Park, Miami - Philip Major Jr, eager to put on a good show in his first ever five-set match, gave it all he had but came up short in the Bahamas’ opening match in the American Zone II Davis Cup tie against the hosts, Venezuela, on Friday at the Doral Park Country Club.

With a group of Bahamians, led by Bahamas Lawn Tennis Association’s president Elworth Donaldson and secretary Darnette Weir along with former president and Bahamas Olympic Committee vice president Derron Donaldson all on hand cheering, Major Jr dropped a hard fought 6-7 (5), 6-1, 6-1, 6-1 decision to Venezuela’s top seed Ricardo Rodriquez.

“For me it was good,” said the 20-year-old left hander. “I definitely felt the pressure not just playing for myself, but hearing the Bahamas name. So for me, it was an extremely new feeling for me. It’s the first time playing and in zone II and in my first best-of-five match. I felt good, but he just played well today.”

The Andros native, whose father Philip Major Jr was in the stands filming the match, went up 4-1 after two breaks of serve in the first set, but Rodriquez rallied to even the score at 5-5 on a pair of breaks as well. Both served out the set to force the tiebreaker, which Major Jr won 7-5.

“He is ranked in the world and he was as high as 200-something and he didn’t get there by luck, so obviously I knew I had to keep playing because he already showed that he’s been in those moments, so I had to play within myself,” the Bahamian said.

In the second set, Rodriquez broke for 2-0, held serve and broke Major Jr again to take it 6-1 and level the match.

In the third set, Rodriquez went up 3-1 on a break and 5-1 on another as he went on to hold serve for a 2-1 lead as a sprinkle of rain started to fall..

Then, in the fourth set, after a brief delay for the rain to subside, Rodriquez went up 2-1 on a break. With another break, the Venezuelan pushed his lead to 4-1, held for 5-1 and broke to win the match.

“Some days it go in and some days it don’t go in,” said Major Jr about what happened in the last three sets. “Some calls went against me. That’s the power of tennis. If they were good, it would have been a different story. But he played well. This is tennis.”

Despite suffering the loss, Major Jr said he appreciated playing for his country and he felt he went out there and left it all on the court.

It was the first singles match in the best-of-five series with Spencer Newman, the Bahamian top seed, playing the second match against Luis David Martinez on Friday afternoon. On Saturday it’s doubles with player/captain Marvin Rolle and Justin Lunn joining forces and on Sunday, Newman will be back to face Rodriquez in the first singles and Major Jr is scheduled to take on Martinez.