Home|Sports|Team Bahamas finalized for Davis Cup and Billie Jean King Cup tournamentsSports
Simba FrenchSend an emailMay 23, 2022 120 2 minute readFacebookTwitterLinkedInShare via Email
The Bahamas’ Davis Cup and Billie Jean King Cup teams for 2022 were finalized after the Bahamas Lawn Tennis Association (BLTA) held its trials for the final two spots on the two teams at the BLTA National Tennis Center over the weekend.
Clinching their spots on the Davis Cup team were Kevin Major Jr. and Baker Newman. They will team up with Spencer Newman and Marvin Rolle, who qualified at the Giorgio Baldacci Open Nationals in December 2021. On the women’s side, Simone Pratt and 16-year-old Sierra Rodgers booked their spots on the Billie Jean King Cup team. They will team up with Sydney Clarke and Elana Mackey, who also qualified at the Giorgio Baldacci Open Nationals.
The Davis Cup team will play in Group III Americas competition that will be played at the Costa Rica Country Club in Escazu, Costa Rica, on hard courts. Competition is set for June 22-25. Other countries participating in the tournament are Costa Rica, Guatemala, Jamaica, Panama, Paraguay, Puerto Rico and Venezuela.
The Billie Jean King Cup team will compete in the Americas Group II at the Centro Nacional de Tenis Parque Del Este in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic (DR). They will also play on hard courts. No date has been set as yet for that tournament.
Major and Baker Newman played in the finals yesterday with Major winning a competitive first set 7-5 and winning the second set 6-1.
Pratt, who hails from Grand Bahama, easily took care of Rodgers, 6-1 and 6-2, to win that match.
Rolle, Major and Baker Newman will be making their second consecutive trip to Davis Cup competition. This will be Major’s sixth year playing Davis Cup. He has played 15 matches and has a 7-8 win/loss record overall, including 6-8 in singles. Rolle has played on the Davis Cup team for 17 years and has played in 58 matches – the most for The Bahamas. He has an overall record of 40-34 – 14-15 in singles and 26-19 in doubles. Baker competes in his fifth Davis Cup competition. He has an 11-6 overall record – 9-4 in singles and 2-2 in doubles. Spencer will be competing in his third Davis Cup. He has played seven matches. He has a 7-5 overall record, 4-4 singles and a 3-1 doubles record.
Rodgers is the only player making her Billie Jean King Cup debut. Clarke has played in three tournaments and in eight matches. She has a 5-5 overall record that includes a 3-4 singles record and a 2-1 doubles record. Pratt has experience under her belt, having played for five years on the team. She has played 20 matches and sports a 12-11 overall record – 8-8 in singles and 4-3 in doubles. Mackey has represented The Bahamas in three Billie Jean King Cup tournaments. She has played in two matches and has an 0-2 record. Both losses were in doubles.