The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS 

Chief Sports Editor

 bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

AFTER failing to win a tie in their American Zone III Davis Cup Tie last week, the Bahamas has been relegated to Group IV for the first time since playing in the top country team competition for men in 1989.

The Bahamas lost 2-0 to Jamaica on Saturday in the deciding relegation playoffs on the clay courts of the Club Internacional de Tenis in Asuncion, Paraguay. The loss dropped The Bahamas to the bottom of the eight-team pool.

The Dominican Republic beat Paraguay 2-0 to clinch the top spot, but the two countries were promoted to zone II, along with Venezuela, who got third with a 2-0 win over Puerto Rico.

In Saturday’s deciding tie, rookie Michael Major Jr once again played the opening singles, but lost 6-4, 6-1 to Jamaica’s Brandon Perez, while top seed Justin Roberts fell to Jamaica’s Ricardo Rodriquez-Pace.

With the tie already completed, the doubles match didn’t count, although the Jamaican team of Oscar Martinez de Freitad and Sebastian Pino won 6-3, 6-1 over the Bahamian duo of Donte Armbrister and Denali Nottage.

The Bahamas only won one of their eight matches played during the round robin.

The Bahamas opened up with a 2-1 loss to Costa Rica as Major Jr made his Davis Cup debut a successful one with his opening singles victory.

However, the Bahamas went on to lose 3-0 to both Paraguay and Venezuela on Wednesday and Friday.

Despite the scores, captain Ricardo Demeritte said he was pleased with the overall performances of the team, which also included Denali Nottage and Donte Armbrister.

Rodney Carey Jr also travelled with the team, but didn’t participate.

“I think that we were in every single match that we played,” Demeritte said. “The overall consensus was that we didn’t convert a lot of points. We were up in a lot of games, almost every other game that we played.

“Just the inability to convert points was our weakness during this week. I think the team preparation prior to the trip, or the event, was spot on. A lot of hard work went into the preparation for this tournament.”

Demeritte, got some backlash from some of the players as he was named to the team, made a recommendation to the BLTA for next year for whosoever is the captain or preparing the team.

He noted that they should keep in mind implementing some international exposure in terms of match play for the players.

“I think that real-life scenario and in-game pres- sure is what was missing in the preparation, playing a different variety of players in different situations,” he said. “Overall, our players were sharp, ready and they performed very well.”

Carey, according to Demeritte, decided not to be a part of the team.

He added that the BLTA will speak to that further in greater detail.

As for the players who played, both Major Jr and Roberts had mixed sentiments about their performances in the critical final match against Jamaica.

“I think I had a good match today. I had my chances in the first set being up 4-2, but I think he just played tougher and I had certain lapses in different moments where I should have won the games,” said Major Jr, the rookie member of the team.

“Overall, I think today I had a really good striking match, actually. The guy I played was a grinder from the baseline, so I think I could have switched it up more, hit a little bit more drop shots, come to the net more.”

As the only Bahamian player to win a match, Roberts said overall, he thinks he had a solid match.

“I just should have played a little bit different in certain moments and converted more," he stated.

Roberts on the other hand, said he was disappointed with the result.

“Fought hard. Was able to break into both sets,” he recalled.

“Upped a lot of service gains I ended up losing. The level overall was very good. Just need to convert in certain scenarios.”

While he congratulated the Jamaica team, Roberts said it was a tough tie for the Bahamas as they were relegated.

“A lot of work to do and yeah,” he stated. “I guess we’ll be back.”

The Bahamas had its best performance in 1993 in Florida when they reached the World Group playoffs, led by Mark Knowles and Roger Smith, only to lose to the United States team led by Andre Agassi.

The Bahamas has played in Group III for a number of years, but has never been relegated to Group IV until Saturday when they lost to Jamaica in the playoffs.

The Bahamas is now tied with Syria for 90th position in the world.

The Dominican Republic took the top spot with a 2-0 decision over Paraguay.

Veneuela ended up in third place with a 2-0 win over Puerto Rico and Costa Rica clinched fifth place with their 2-0 win over Bermuda.