The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

THIS weekend, the Bahamas Lawn Tennis Association will send off its team to the American Zone III Davis Cup tie in Costa Rica.

The Bahamas, with a world ranking of 99, will comprise of player/captain Marvin Rolle, Baker Newman, Philip Major Jr and Jodi Turnquest.

The BLTA had to make an adjustment to the team due to an injury to Spencer Newman, who was the top seeded player on the team, and college graduate Kevin Major Jr.

While Baker is nursing an injury, Major Jr has decided to take some time to concentrate on his professional career, having just graduated from Seminole State Oklahoma.

But BLTA president Darnett Weir said she’s confident that the team selected will get the job done when the tie starts on Monday, May 28. The team is scheduled to depart on Friday with Rolle coming from the Bahamas to join both Major Jr and Turnquest from Mexico where they are training and Newman from Texas.

“Our expectations for the team is that they will do very well,” Weir said. “Not having Spencer, Baker will be playing as the number one player on the team. So we’re hoping to depend on Baker Newman and Marvin Rolle to pull the team through.

“We are now in zone three, but we are hoping that the team will pull through and get us back into zone two. With Baker being the number one player, we expect that he will be playing the singles along with Philip. We know that with Marvin available to play doubles, his experience should go a long way in helping us out.”

Rolle, 36, has been a member of the team since 2001. He has played in a total of 21 ties and has compiled a 14-15 win-loss record in singles and 22-16 in doubles.

Having captained the team for the last five years, including 2017 when the Bahamas lost 4-1 to Bolivia, Rolle said he would like to go at full strength, but he’s content with the squad that he has to work with.

“I think our guys are prepared,” Rolle said. “Baker is still playing at the college level and PJ and Jodi are on the circuit, so even though they might be some young guys, they have the experience under their belt.

“Baker had been on the team when we came out of zone three before so he has some experience under his belt to help us get out again. So we feel we will do very well.”

As a tennis pro and coach here in the Bahamas, Rolle said it would be good if they can get some more funding to assist the players to get to more tournaments around the world to improve on their game.

“They just need to get more tournaments under their belt because these guys are talented,” Rolle stressed. “But these guys are looking forward to it, so we are going to go there and give it our best shot.”

The Bahamas will have to finish in the top two in order to get promoted to zone II for 2019.

At age 22, Major Jr has played in three ties since he began in 2012. He is still looking for his first singles victory, but is 1-1 in doubles. He also played on the team that lost to Bolivia last year.

Newman, also 22, is back after missing last year’s tie because of school commitments. He made his debut in 2016 in four matches, going a perfect 4-0 in singles, including the clinching 2-0 win over Jamaica to advance to group two.

As the newest member of the team, 24-year-old Turnquest has been one of the top local players in the country.

He has played extensively in various tournaments in the Caribbean as a junior and a budding senior player.

Fresh on the heels of the men’s trip, the BLTA will get ready to send the women’s team off to the Fed Cup. The team, captained by Larikah Russell, will comprise of Kerrie Cartwright, Danielle Thompson and Simone Pratt.

They will play in Guayaquil, Ecuador, July 18-21 against six other countries in two different pools with the two winners advancing to the American Zone Group 1 in 2019.

“We are happy that we have our elite Fed Cup team back,” Weir stated. “Over the past three years, we had to resort to using the junior players, which was good because they got to wet their feet.

“Now we have the elite players back. They won in 2013 in El Salvador and we feel that they can do it again.”

In between those two trips, the BLTA will be sending a junior team off in the first week of July to the Dominican Republic. The team will comprise of three girls and three boys.

“We will be quite busy over the next three months with our national teams travelling,” Weir noted.