The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

DORAL PARK, Miami, Florida — After spending the past few days preparing for their first round American Zone II Davis Cup tie, Bahamas player/captain Marvin Rolle said the team of Spencer Newman, Philip Major Jr and Justin Lunn are ready to put on a show.

The show will get started this morning at the Doral Park Country Club when Major Jr, the Bahamas No.2 seed, will face Venezuela’s top seed Ricardo Rodriquez in the opening match.

About 20 minutes after they are done, Newman - the country’s top seed - will take on Venezuela’s No.2 seed Luis Davis Martinez.

On Saturday, Rolle and Lunn are scheduled to team up to take on Venezuela’s duo of Martinez and Jordi Munoz-Abreu in the pivotal doubles matches.

Then on Sunday, the singles order will reserve with Spencer taking Rodriquez in the clash of the top two seeds and Major Jr and Martinez will square off in the showdown between the No.2 seeds.

“The guys are hitting the ball good. We had some good practices and they are moving well,” Rolle told The Tribune immediately following the draw and the team’s final practice yesterday.

“They are remaining positive, so we are looking for some good results this weekend.”

With Venezuela coming in with both singles players and Munoz-Abreu all ranked on the ATP computer list, Rolle said they know that they will have to step up their game. “When it comes to Davis Cup, the individual ranking doesn’t matter anymore,” the veteran team member said.

“You’re playing for your country, so our expectations are high, so we believe we will do very well.”

After getting the call to join the team after top seed Baker Newman was unable to play because of his commitments to the University of Vanderbilt, Rolle said Major Jr has taken on the task of getting himself fit to play the gruelling best-of-five sets and not the best-of-three he normally plays in tournaments.

But he said he’s been hitting the very well and he’s confident that he will do well.

As for Newman, who hails from the Florida area, Rolle said he has been putting in the work and it has shown in what he saw from him in practice. “He should do well too. He’s been out there playing, so it should be good,” Rolle stated.

And even though he’s the elder statesman on the team, Rolle said he’s ready to go with Lunn, who has surprised them in practice, showing that he’s prepared to play in singles if he’s needed.

Major Jr, making his second appearance on the Davis Cup team, said it will be an honour for him to get the ball rolling for the Bahamas in the first match of the tie today. “I’m going to do the best that I can and hopefully all goes well, I will definitely leave everything out there,” he insisted. “I came here to help the Bahamas win.”

While the pressure is on him to get things going, Major Jr said he’s confident that the Bahamas has the team to pull off the tie and move on to the next round in the winner’s circle.

“We have a great team and everybody has been uplifting each other throughout the week,” Major Jr said. “Since we been here, one or two of us were not feeling that well, but the atmosphere that we created, we started picking each other up and we started to do well.

“So for me, this team is great and this is a very good environment that we are in. I like being around the guys on the team. We’ve seen the Venezuelans so we have to just stay focus on what we have to do. I don’t feel any pressure, just mixed emotions because this is something that I have to do, so I’m going to go out there and lave it all on the court.”

For Spencer, there’s nothing like being at home. He said the team was here working out all week and they are ready to go, although they won’t have Baker, nor Kevin Major Jr available to play.

“We’re gelling. The chemistry is there as a team. I’m happy with everything that I’ve seen, so I’m looking forward to tomorrow (today),” he proclaimed.

“This is pretty much my home. I live just about 30 minutes away from here. And even though the tie isn’t in Venezuela, it’s just like Venezuela because they have a lot of people living here. But I expect to see a lot of familiar faces in the stands cheering for the Bahamas.”

At the end of the tie, Newman said they hope that the Bahamas will be victorious.

Although he joined the team at the last stage after Kevin Major Jr had to withdraw because of his commitments to Seminole State Junior College in Oklahoma, Lunn said he feel like this is where he belong.

“It feels amazing, competing against a good team. It’s always good to have a team behind your back cheering you on,” Lunn stressed. “I feel really good. Everybody is playing very good, we’re focused and we’re ready.”

It’s an accomplishment for Lunn, who has overcome his physical challenge, but he’s eager to get over the jitterbugs when he see and hear the crowd cheering today.

“It’s not just you on the team. You’re playing for your team and for your whole country,” he pointed out. “So that’s a lot of pressure, but other than that, everything is going okay.”

And even though Venezuela is ranked higher than the Bahamas as a country, Lunn said the difference is that they will be playing with a lot of heart because they want to win.