The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

THE Bahamas showdown for the first round of the American Zone II Davis Cup tie will be played next month at the Doral Country Club in Miami, Florida, instead of the home surface of Venezuela.

Venezuela is the designated host of the tie, scheduled for February 3-5, but because of the economic crisis, they consented to play on neutral grounds in Miami.

“I think it’s very important that it is being played on a neutral site that is very close to us,” said Bahamas Lawn Tennis Association president Elwood Donaldson.

“Considering the conditions that they are experiencing in Venezuela, we had requested for them to allow us to host it, but they decided to go with the neutral site, which works out very good for us.”

With the tie now being played in Miami, Donaldson said the Bahamas would be able to have a lot more fans in attendance than they would have if it were in Venezuela. And he noted that it being in Miami, it works out better for the Newman brothers – Baker and Spencer – whose training base is in Florida.

“We can now send a very large contingent to support the team because it’s very close,” Donaldson said. “So that turned out well for us with the Davis Cup being held in Miami.”

The team, comprising of the Newman brothers, Kevin ‘KJ’ Major and player/captain Marvin Rolle, was decided last month at the BLTA’s Annual Giorgio Baldacci National Open Tennis Tournament.

However, Baker Spencer is still in school at Vanderbilt and Major is expected to enrol in Seminole State Junior College in Oklahoma in the next week.

Donaldson said the BLTA is anticipating that both players will be cleared in time to participate, but in the event that either one can’t make it they will add Philip Major Jr to the team.

“We are hoping that to have both KJ and Baker, but if not, we have Philip, who was our fifth qualifier and he’s at their level too, so he would fill in,” Donaldson said. “He’s been touring professionally, he won a regional qualifier, so we are still looking forward to sending a very good team.”

This will be the eighth time that the Bahamas has faced Venezuela. The Bahamas holds a 5-2 advantage, having won the last tie between the two countries February 8-10, 2008 at the National Tennis Centre when the Bahamas pulled off a 4-1 decision in the first round of Group II.

Prior to that, Venezuela won 4-0 in Maracaibo, Venezuela in the Group One final September 19-21 and 3-2 in Nassau in Group One first round tie February 8-10, 2002.

The Bahamas other victories came September 24-26, 1999 in Group One final 3-1 in Venezuela; 3-2 at the Nassau Beach Hotel in another Group One first round tie July 11-13; 5-0 in Caracas, Venezuela in Group II final, July 17-19, 1992 and 5-0 at the Wyndham Beach Hotel, February 3-5, 1989.

A victory over Venezuela, the number two seed in the Americans Group II, will move the Bahamas into the second round against the winner of Mexico and Guatemala over the weekend of April 7-9 at a venue to be announced. Mexico, the No.3 seed, and Guatemala, will also play February 3-5 in Guatemala.

If the Bahamas loses against Venezuela, they will face the loser between Mexico and Guatemala that same weekend, April 7-9 at a venue to be determined.

In the two scenarios, the Bahamas will either ahead on the winning side with a chance to advance to Zone One next year, or on the losing side to avoid being demoted to Zone III. In either second round match-up, the Bahamas could also end up remaining in Zone One, depending on the outcome.

“We’re looking forward to getting back to the days that we were at back in the day with players like Mark Knowles and Roger Smith,” said Donaldson, of two of the most successful Bahamian Davis Cuppers. “So if we can move on, that would be great because it would be the highest level that we have been in for at least 10 years. So it would be very monumental for us moving forward.”

The Davis Cup tie is just one of the many international events that the BLTA is looking forward to either hosting or competing in this year.

Starting on Saturday at 2 pm to February 18, the Bahamas International Tennis Club Invitational Team Tennis League will be played at six different venues. On Sunday at 2 pm at the National Tennis Center, the IC Players will participate with the juniors.

Then from January 9-11, the 4th biannual IC Doubles Week will take place at the National Tennis Center between the United States of America, Canada, Barbados and the Bahamas.

Right on the heels of Davis Cup, the BLTA will send a team of to Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic to compete in the World Junior Tennis Competition Pre-qualifying Event for under-16s.

The Fed Cup for ladies is tentatively set for July 17-23, but those dates could change as the event will no longer be staged in Uruguay.

“We are trying to develop our junior teams to compete and we are also trying to get more juniors involved because most of our juniors who have done very well have move up,” Donaldson said.

“With Fed Cup in July, we will be using our junior players so we are hoping that they will have sufficient time to prepare. We will have Marvin Rolle working with them as well as the Davis Cup team. So we are looking forward to some great things happening with our national teams.”

Overall, Donaldson said he’s hoping this year that they will see a breakthrough on the senior level as Justin Roberts is the only player with an ATP computer point.

“We are looking to try and get him to come home in December to play in our national trials because we believe that he can help our Davis Cup in the future,” Donaldson said. “But we are looking forward to getting as many players as we can to compete at the pro level this year.”