NASSAU, BAHAMAS – Bahamas Lawn Tennis Association (BLTA) officials yesterday named both its Davis and Fed Cup Teams.
The squads feature a mix of veteran and junior players, which officials think will help produce some surprisingly good results on the circuit.
“Due to the debacle we faced during the Giorgio Baldacci tournament, we brought in an independent panel to help us make the selections,” said BLTA president Darnette Weir.
“We also have some guidelines that we’ve followed for years now, and in fairness to all competitors, we had to do adhere to, to an extent. We recognized that some of our top players didn’t play in the end of season senior championships, so in the spirit of transparency, we relied on the panel’s decision. So, the criteria we followed is, two finalists, two top-ranked players, and a player selected by the coach. If a Davis Cup tournament is held in September instead of April, there will be another tournament held along with the two top players from the Giorgio Baldcacci tournament.”
Members of the independent committee included sports ambassador Mark Knowles, former BLTA vice president Karen Turnquest, former BLTA president Jay Barry-Farrington, Mickey Williams and tennis coach Michael Butler.
The Fed and Davis Cup teams are as follows: Davis- Marvin Rolle (Captain), Donte Armbrister, Justin Lunn, Kevin Major Jr., Baker Newman and Phillip Major Jr.
Fed- Sydney Clarke, Sierra Donaldson, Daniel Thompson and Kerrie Cartwright.
The Bahamas saw much success in 2018 with these teams making it to the finals (Fed Cup) and earning Zone promotion (Davis Cup). The Davis Cup squad also received the distinction of being named “Team of the Year” by the Ministry of Youth Sports and Culture, and its captain Marvin Rolle named “Coach of the Year”.
