Colombia are for real! Haydn Lewis believes Barbados will be facing their biggest Davis Cup threat yet, having pointed towards the high calibre of the South Americans, including world top 30 doubles players Juan-Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah.
Lewis expressed the concern ahead of this week’s Group I tie at the National Tennis Centre just hours after Farah and Cabal appeared in the doubles final of the Australian Open.
“These two guys from Colombia have been playing together for the past seven to eight years and obviously have great success together because there’s no bigger stage in this sport than playing the final of the Australian Open,” Lewis explained.
“On paper, Darian and I are going to be the underdogs but we’re going to put our best foot forward for Barbados as we always have and it’s a huge motivator for me and I am sure for Darian as well to be playing this calibre of tennis because this is what it’s all about.
“The positive side is that we’ve gotten ourselves back to this situation that we’re getting to compete against countries like this and players of their calibre. Hopefully this could be a major turning point for Barbados tennis as the public can realise how good our players are,” he added.
It’s likely the biggest test this Davis Cup squad has ever had to face since losing its first ever Group I tie to top 100 player Victor Estrella and the Dominican Republic at home two seasons ago.
Yet Cabal and Farah are far from Barbados’ only concerns, as Colombia’s no.2 singles player Alejandro Gonzalez is a former world no.70 who has a long history of huge Davis Cup victories.
“Colombia are a huge team when it comes to Davis Cup tennis as they’ve been up there for a long time in the World Group and Group I so it’s definitely going to be our biggest challenge yet,” Lewis emphasised.
“They have players like Alejandro who just show up when it counts in Davis Cup so and are accustomed to winning these types of big matches while playing for their country.”
But Lewis and King also have a knack for pulling out big victories at this stage, particularly on home soil, where they’ve lost just once in the last six years when both are playing.
However, the new Davis Cup format will present another challenge in itself considering King and Lewis will now be asked to play doubles and then reverse singles on the same day.
“It’s not like the tie wasn’t already a challenge for us but playing over two days and on the second day the doubles is playing in the morning and the singles right after, this new format is definitely catered to teams that have specialised doubles players,” reasoned Lewis.
“For us it is a huge challenge because we’re not going to get much rest after the doubles and it’s not only physical but it’s the emotional and mental energy you spend. Playing one of these matches for your country there’s a lot of emotions on the line and no matter the result you’re definitely tired after one of those matches.
“It definitely does not cater to the smaller teams with players dedicated to playing the majority of the matches but we have no control over the changes so we just have to go out there and give our all for our country as we always do,” he added. (JM)
