By Morissa Lindsay
Barbados will not have the service of its second highest ranked player and doubles specialist Haydn Lewis when the national side hosts Pacific Oceania early next month in a must win Davis Cup by Rakuten World Group II Tie.
Team captain Damien Applewhaite confirmed that Lewis was ruled out of the squad with an ankle injury which is a major blow to the national side in this all-important World Group II Tie scheduled for next weekend Friday, February 3rd to Saturday, February 4th at the National Tennis Centre in Wildey.
Currently in Tampa Florida with the team in preparation for the Davis Cup tie, Applewhaite said he is not too worried about the absence of Lewis at this crucial time as he expressed confidence in the other players on the Barbados Davis Cup squad that includes ace player and national top seed Darian King.
The reality is however, the Barbados Davis Cup team cannot afford to lose this tie and if they do, it will result in relegation to World Group lll.
Once again a lot will be required of the ever capable King with the hope that fellow teammates Xavier Lawrence, Matthew Foster-Estwick and Kaipo Marshall will step up and also deliver for their country once given the opportunity.
“Haydn is nursing an ankle injury which he picked up last year and we were very hopeful that during the rehab that he would have been fit for the tie but unfortunately he is not going to be fit enough for the tie.
“Haydn has been a staple team member for Barbados throughout the years, so yes he definitely will be missed but all that time we were trying to build the other team members like Xavi, Matthew and Kaipo. So, this is a great opportunity for the players to step-up and perform,” Applewhaite told
The doubles is always important in any Davis Cup tie and while Applewhaite does not have his specialist player to rely on, he stated that they will seek to pick the next best doubles partner to join King on court whenever that time comes.
According to Applewhaite, Lawrence in particular is high on confidence having won the Barbados Tennis Association Top 8 tournament last December and would like to see the 24-year-old carry on that momentum into the all-important tie against Pacific Oceania.
A total of 14 countries – Australia, Micronesia, Fiji, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Nauru, New Zealand, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu – all make up the Pacific Oceania.
It should be a good contest between the two territories, who on paper are just about the same level because the highest ranked player for Pacific Oceania – Colin Sinclair – is ranked 619 in singles and 585 in doubles. This is in comparison to King who is currently ranked 845 in singles but is far better than that, as a former 106 ranked world class player.
Barbados Tennis Association, Vice-President, Junior King said preparation is going well and he stressed the need for the Barbadian public to come out and support the team in what will be a must win situation for them.
“We need as many Barbadians there as possible, we need as many people to come out and support the team. It is a very important tie for us,” King explained.
The BTA Vice-President stressed that everything is on the line for Barbados Davis Cup team who must fight to stay up in World Group ll. If they so happen to be demoted then the Davis Cup format changes and the national association would not be able to host matches because the venue in Wildey has to be big enough to host multiple teams at the same time.
As it relates to preparation, King stated, “Preparations are going good. I think because we had a tie in September we left most of the system in place, so it is just a case of reactivating those things. Where we need to do anything different we are just going to go ahead and do that.
“The good thing is that every tie becomes easier to organise for me because this is my third one and from an organisational perspective it is becoming a little easier. I would say that the situation with Covid has helped in that regard because of having to prepare for Covid protocols, it makes a massive difference in terms of the organisational aspect of it.”
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