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We must bank more on Lewis

by Sasha Mehter
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By Morissa Lindsay

While Barbados Captain Damien Applewhaite acknowledged that their latest 3-2 defeat to Ireland in the Rakuten by Davis Cup World Group ll tie is a wakeup call, the Barbados Tennis Association (BTA) also needs a strategic plan.

What do I mean by this? The BTA has a few options to either invest heavily in the younger players – Kaipo Marshall, Xavier Lawrence and Matthew Foster- Estwick – of the Davis Cup team which in actual fact will be a three to five year strategic plan. Or, to implement a short-term plan to invest in season campaigner Haydn Lewis and get him overseas to play on tours in an effort to get match ready.   

The national Davis Cup team cannot continue to survive solely on just one wheel namely Darian King whenever they are faced with a must-win tie. Case and point against Ireland Barbados should have won the doubles given that King evened the tie on the opening day of competition 1-1 and then returned on the second and final day to play the doubles which they lost.

Yet again King played his heart out to equalize 2-2 by winning his second singles match but did not have the support of an experienced campaigner like himself to bring it home for Barbados.

The national team has just five months to prepare for their tie against Pacific Oceania scheduled to take place early February 2023 and they need a quick solution on whether to get their most senior talismen, particularly Lewis, in shape or if to continue and take a chance with the younger crop of players who are all under 30 years old.

In fact, King, who turned 30 this year and Lewis who is 36, are still the best Barbados has and unless the trio of Marshall, Lawrence and Foster-Estwick can in short order significantly improve their game – it would be in the best interest of the national team at this stage to capitalize on Lewis’ years of experience providing he trains and remains match-fit.

Let us not forget the heroics of Lewis in 2014 when he came from a set down and won 2-6, 6-3, 6-1 and 6-3 against Lucas Gomez of Mexico and sealed an emphatic 3-2 victory for Barbados in the Davis Cup tie. That performance by Lewis was historic because it resulted in Barbados being promoted to Group l for the first time in Davis Cup history.

It is that type of experience money cannot buy and hence the BTA may need to consider banking on Lewis once more if we are to survive Group ll which is getting more competitive as the years go by because the teams continue to raise the standard of their tennis.

In a recent interview after they lost the tie to Ireland, Lewis admitted that it is a lot to ask of his long time teammate King. “I am able to usually perform well and today was a struggle. I think I felt a bit more pressure because Darian as you know has not been a hundred percent and it is a lot on him, asking of him usually for every tie.”

Lewis assured that physically he feels good but admitted that playing against Ireland in the doubles revealed to him he needs to get back on tour playing a lot more. Earlier this year Lewis took a personal decision not to go to Turkey where Barbados played and lost to Ukraine 3-0.

“My last Davis Cup I played was a year ago. I didn’t go to Turkey for my own personal reasons but it is hard to put that out of the back of your head especially when it is such an important role. So, it has been a built up of everything. Physically I feel fine; in practice I was hitting the ball fine, I felt comfortable on returns but when you walk on the court it is just a whole different scenario that I have not experienced for some time,” the southpaw said.

Lewis added: “I feel like I could do a lot better, I know I could play a lot better and I have played better doubles at higher levels.”

morissalindsay@barbadostoday.bb

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