Team Barbados will face one of its greatest tests in Davis Cup history when they square off against Pacific Oceania tomorrow in the World Group ll playoff tie at the National Tennis Centre in Wildey.
Barbados needs a win to remain in Group II. A loss against Oceania will see them relegated to Group III.
During this morning’s press conference and draw at the Radisson Aquatica Resort, referee for the tie Jake Garner announced that Barbados’ top seed Darian King will take on Oceania’s number two ranked player Clement Mainguy in the first match tomorrow at 11 a.m.
The second match of the day will see the number two rated Kaipo Marshall come up against Oceania’s top seed Colin Sinclair.
On Saturday’s final day, King and Matthew Foster- Estwick will team up against Sinclair and Brett Baudinet in the all-important doubles match commencing at 10 a.m.
Without their second best player and seasoned campaigner Haydn Lewis, as well as Xavier Lawrence who are both out injured, all eyes will be on King, the country’s best player for the past decade.
Speaking to Barbados TODAY, King, a former 106 ranked player in singles who has a 40-11 record playing for Barbados, admitted he would have to shoulder the majority of the burden with Lewis and Lawrence out
Barbados’ top ranked player Darian King (left) will compete in the first match against Oceania’s Clement Mainguy. (Pictures by Morissa Lindsay)
“We do not have the full team, Haydn is not healthy at this time and as you saw a couple days ago Xavier, who had a good chance of playing the number two spot, twisted his ankle. So, this is where now I really have to step up and I think I am built for the pressure situation. I know a lot of people will be counting on me but in my mind it is obviously just to go out there and play my best tennis,” King said as he encouraged Barbadians to come out and support the team.
Barbados’ non-playing team captain Damien Applewhaite promised a very competitive tie.
“Both teams are competitive on paper and we are not taking anything for granted. In fact, we flew all the way to Tampa (Florida) to see Colin play and I think this is a good balance between the teams,” he said.
While President of Oceania Tennis Federation, Cyrille Mainguy also shared the view that both teams were equally matched, Mainguy said he believed Barbados had a slight edge.
“I think Barbados have been in Group I before, coming down to Group II and been in Group II many more years than us. Experience wise, they are slightly ahead of us, however, our team just won in Group III last year between all the teams and it is quite a strong team.
“I would like to say it is 50/50 but I would have to say 60/40 for Barbados, but in my heart it is probably a 100 per cent for Pacific Oceania. But we have seen each other train all week, we got great records from Darian, we got that on paper and I think it would be a great match,” Mainguy explained.
Pacific Oceania is made up of Micronesia, Fiji, French Polynesia, Kiribati, the Marshall Islands, Nauru, New Caledonia, New Zealand, Palau, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu, Vanuatu and Wallis and Futuna.
In giving earlier remarks, president of the Barbados Tennis Association thanked Radisson for its continued support in sponsoring the team.
Chair umpires for the Davis Cup match are Pablo Barboza and Analia Vera.
morissalindsay@barbadosotoday.bb
