National trials likely to pick additional Davis Cup player
Published:Thursday | January 13, 2022 | 12:09 AMRobert Bailey/Gleaner Writer
President of Tennis Jamaica (TJ) John Azar says his association will be meeting to discuss whether or not a national trial will be use to select a fifth spot on the country’s Davis Cup team for this year’s Group Two play-off against hosts Greece.
A fifth spot becomes available to the teams in Group Two, and there have been a few polite queries about how Tennis Jamaica would go about selecting that extra player.
The Jamaicans, who will be seeking to advance to Group One for the first time in the country’s history, will compete against Greece in March.
The winner of the tie with Greece will advance to another Group Two play-off in November, with the winner from that contest earning promotion to Group One.
According to Azar, the first four players on the team will remain the same as the one which helped the country to secure promotion from Group Three last year.
That team comprises the country’s number one and two players, Blaise Bicknell and Randy Phillips, along with captain Dominic Pagon (a non-playing captain), Jacob Bicknell and Dimitri Bird.
“While no decision has been finalised as to the team, our initial thought after speaking with captain Dominic Pagon is to retain an unchanged team, assuming that all players are fully fit and ready, and to possibly have trials for the fifth spot on the team,” said Azar.
“However, the executive of Tennis Jamaica will be meeting to discuss that prior to finalising the selection,” he said.
“Any selection of the team is in keeping with all selection processes,” he said.
Azar pointed out that Jamaica has many quality players to choose from going into the tournament and, therefore, he is quite confident that they will do well.
“We are cautiously optimistic, because Greece is a very strong team and obviously, their number one players is ranked in the top five in the world,” he said.
“But what we are focusing on now is our team selection to get it right, and preparation of the team to give them the best possible opportunity to compete at their best,” he said.