Jamaica set sights on tough Davis Cup tie against New Zealand
Published:Friday | October 11, 2024 | 12:11 AMOrane Buchanan/Staff Reporter
PRESIDENT OF Tennis Jamaica, John Azar, explained that Jamaica’s team for their 2025 Davis Cup tie against New Zealand will be revealed in a few weeks’ time. Jamaica will play hosts from February 1-2 next year at the Eric Bell National Tennis Centre.
“Of course, we are pleased to be hosting another Group 2 tie here in Jamaica. The technical team is already in touch with a few players and will finalise the composition of our squad in the coming weeks. The guys are excited, and I have no doubt they will be ready and raring to go,” he said.
Earlier this year, Jamaica were relegated to Group 3 of the Davis Cup following a 3-2 defeat against Caribbean opponents Barbados. However, the team was given a lifeline due to a recent restructuring of the competition, which gave a fourth qualifying spot to the Americas region.
Jamaica, the highest-ranked team that did not remain in Group 2, secured the new spot.
According to Azar, the team is familiar with their opponents’ style of play and are well aware of the threat they pose, especially with world number 559-ranked Kiranpal Pannu in their ranks.
“New Zealand is a tough team, but any team at this level of the competition is expected to be tough. We are actually familiar with a few of their players, which includes their top player, who featured at the ITF Future events that we hosted in Kingston,” said Azar.
Azar explained that while there is a lot of planning that goes into hosting tournaments of this magnitude, he is eager to hit the ground running in order to execute another successful staging.
“There’s a lot that goes into hosting world-class events. As president, I will work with both the ITF and Tennis Jamaica Board to ensure that we host a high-quality tie as we have done in the past.”
Jamaica will be hoping that their number-one player, Blaise Bicknell, will have recovered sufficiently from surgery to again lead the team and have them bank on his experience.
“Blaise did surgery approximately two months ago and has been out of competition. He is back on his feet, and from discussions with members of the management team, he is very excited about this opportunity. God willing, his recovery will continue to go well, and he will be back at his physical best come February 1 and 2.”