Rift over Davis Cup team widens

THE AUTOMATIC selection of Daniel Azar to Jamaica’s Davis Cup team, down to face Lebanon from September 15-16, is facing growing resistance, with more players voicing concern or putting forward questions for Tennis Jamaica and its president, John Azar.

Most recently, letters from John Chin, Jacob Bicknell, and Nicholas Gore have been presented to the president, suggesting that Daniel Azar should not have an automatic place in the team and should have been made to compete in the organisation’s national trials.

The players are sharing a sentiment first expressed by Blaise Bicknell, a sentiment he also put in writing.

Tennis Jamaica responded to that letter, saying it would not be made to cede power to a player, no matter how talented he is.

However, the players are now making it known that it isn’t just Blaise Bicknell’s sentiment that Tennis Jamaica needed to pay attention to.

According to the players, Daniel Azar’s automatic selection suggests a lack of credibility, fairness, and transparency, and is inconsistent with previous selection protocols.

The Davis Cup selection committee, comprising captain Mel Spence, coach Noel Rutherford, and manager Errol Campbell, do not agree and have argued they have acted within the remit of the selection criteria, unfettered by outside influence.

The selection committee members, at a recent press conference, vouched for Daniel’s ability, calling him a player for the future who has been working assiduously to return to full fitness after being injured earlier this year.

The protesting players have outlined that their love of Jamaica propels them into playing this Davis Cup tie in Jounieh, Lebanon. Their displeasure with the situation, however, compels them to reconsider continuing to play for Jamaica, should the current selection process remain.

Their grouses were further expounded in a Zoom interview with Chin’s mother, Camille, the Bicknells’ publicist, Laura Butler, and mother Nicola, who were critical of the process, having been involved in local tennis for several years.

According to Chin and his mother, two years ago, while being a highly ranked junior at 17 years old, he was denied an exemption by Tennis Jamaica, although he had a valid scheduling conflict with the date of the Davis Cup trials. He also had difficulties because of the COVID-19 restrictions with the accompanying travel requirements. This prevented him from being a member of the Davis Cup team.

MANDATORY

The situation repeated itself last year with Tennis Jamaica informing Chin that the trials is mandatory, after he requested another exemption because of college duties and was once again denied.

“This means that, for every Davis Cup event in the last few years, I have had to either play trials or been left off the team. For the two trials, I have not been able to attend, I had good reasons to request an exemption because of competition conflicts, COVID travel complications and/or college commitments.

“Many Tennis Jamaica directors who sat on the board when I was denied these exemptions still sit on the board. I would hope that the new members on the board, technical committee and Davis Cup panel would have been told of the precedent set regarding team selection and exemptions,” Chin posited.

Jacob Bicknell, who has played Davis Cup for Jamaica in the past but skipped the trials this year, is contending that his absence was in defiance of Daniel’s automatic selection. He argued that the Davis Cup selection committee’s stance that Daniel is a player for the future is invalid.

Jacob said: “I was shocked and think that is a totally unfair decision because Daniel does not qualify, based on the national selection criteria, as a candidate above Nicholas Gore nor I.

“It is not justified for the technical team to say that Daniel Azar deserves an automatic pass because, since he recently started getting better from his injury in April, he trains hard and has potential for the future.

“The national selection criteria clearly state that the technical committee will use the guidelines to send the strongest possible team. This is not what Tennis Jamaica has done, and the correct thing would have been to have trials for all unranked ATP players,” Jacob stated.

Gore added: “I believe that no player without ATP points should be excused from participating in trials for the Davis Cup – especially someone that has been injured and out of the court for the previous months. I believe the selection process should entail fairness and equal opportunity to serve as the baseline for all players to represent Jamaica.”

Editors Note: In a previous edition of this story a comment vouching for Daniel Azar's "... ability, calling him a player for the future who has been working assiduously to return to full fitness after being injured earlier this year." was attributed to Tennis Jamaica president John Azar and the organisation's Davis Cup selection committee. The comment should only have been attributed to the selection committee. We unreservedly apologise for any inconvenience that may have caused.