The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

The Bahamas men’s tennis team suffered an opening 2-1 loss to the Dominican Republic as the Davis Cup competition got underway yesterday at the International Tennis Club in Asuncion, Paraguay.

But player/captain Marvin Rolle said the team is in high spirits and looking forward to playing through the rest of the week out of Group B where they have to face the other teams in Paraguay, Costa Rica and Honduras.

In the opening singles match, Grand Bahamian Denali Nottage made his debut, losing 6-2, 6-4 to Alejandro Jose Gandini. He was followed by Kevin Major Jr, who played in the top seed match against Peter Bertram, losing 6-4, 6-3.

It came down to the doubles and Rolle teamed up with Donte Armbrister as they sealed the only victory for the Bahamas with a 7-6 (7), 6-2 decision over Alberto Puello and Emmanuel Munoz.

Rolle, in summing up the team’s performance, said it was mixed reactions from the matches they played.

“It was Denali’s first time playing in the Davis Cup, he was definitely nervous,” Rolle said. “He played much better in the second set. He started to find his groove and he started to get into the match. A few points here and there made the difference.

“But he was just getting his feet wet. That’s how it goes sometimes when you are playing for the first time. Your nerves get the best of you, but he played well.”

In his match, Rolle said he felt Major Jr played as well as he could against his opponent, who was ranked about 781 in the world.

“He played well. It was a good match,” Rolle stated. “Just some key points here and there was the difference. When the tight moments came, KJ couldn’t capitalise.

“In the second set, it was tied up at 3-3, and then a few errors on KJ’s part allowed the guy to pull away. I could have helped him a little more with some more tips here and there.”

In the doubles match where he has been a formidable team-mate, Rolle said he was delighted to help Armbrister come out with his first Davis Cup victory in his second appearance on the team.

“We played well. We were down in the first set, but we came back and broke to go away and he closed out the tie breaker pretty strong, winning 7-0,” Rolle stressed.

“In the second set, we were grooving well. We were serving well and we had a lot of opportunities on their serves. The guys we played against were like juniors. You could tell this was their first time playing. They were really young.”

Today, in their second match, Rolle said the Bahamas will take on top seed Paraguay out of their group.

“We played them last year, so we know what to expect,” he insisted. “We will go out there and play our best. It’s unfrotunate KJ couldn’t finish the match against the same guy who he will play against.

“But this year, KJ is healthy and we hope that he can play strong. We will go out there and play our best and try to finish strong.”

Rolle noted that earlier in the week when they arrived it was cold, but it’s now warming up and, if the conditions remain the same for the rest of the week, they hope to make the best of it.

As the elder statesman of the team, having travelled and played in more Davis Cup ties than any other member, Rolle said their living accommodations are really nice with just about all of the amenities at their disposal.

He noted that while there’s nothing much to complain about, the team just has to get prepared to play each match.