BARBADOS will be holding serve against Puerto Rico after all.
One month after nearly forfeiting the right to host its most crucial tie ever, the country’s Davis Cup squad is now preparing to stage the pivotal rubber after the National Tennis Centre was given the go-ahead to hold two tournaments simultaneously.
Barbados Tennis Association president Dr Raymond Forde broke the news yesterday following initial concerns over the availability of the Wildey venue, which was already booked to stage an annual International Tennis Federation (ITF) junior tournament.
“We had some meetings with the Davis Cup department in the UK over the phone, and it is agreed that we will play at the Tennis Centre during the junior tournament even though it might present some logistical challenges,” Forde revealed.
“We’re going to try and push the juniors as quickly as possible and when Davis Cup starts then we will have them play on the lower courts as Davis Cup only requires one court for play.
“Worst case scenario is if the referee insists that we should have one other court available for practice then we might have the juniors championships shifted to another venue with a similar surface.
“But what’s important is that we’re not giving away the tie now and that’s a relief, as even our best player Darian [King] came to me and asked us to do all we can to have it here,” he added.
Last month officials discovered that the dates for the ITF junior tournament and the April 5-7 tie were clashing.
And with no other ITF-sanctioned venues in Barbados, the ultramarine and gold looked almost certain of having to travel for their second-round tie.
The rubber then took on that much more significance following Barbados’ opening-round loss to El Salvador, as a defeat to Puerto Rico will result in demotion to Group III next year.
However, Forde revealed the Davis Cup department was very accommodating, working through all the possible scenarios to have high-level tennis playing in a developing country.
“They’re very willing to work along with us and not put us under a lot of pressure, [so] we had a discussion while looking at all the fine print in the rules.
“The major thing is for us to have another court available for the visiting team to practise at whatever time they want because under the circumstances, the visiting team has the right to determine when they want to practise time before the tie begins,” he said.
“At the end of the day, though, the referee on the ground still calls the shots but I don’t think this should be a major concern.”
Further to Forde’s announcement, Barbados’ No. 2 Haydn Lewis is expected to make himself available for the pivotal tie after missing the 4-1 defeat in El Salvador for personal reasons.
