Ja lose Davis Cup openers, but captain Spence still hopeful
Published:Saturday | September 16, 2023 | 12:08 AMLivingston Scott/Gleaner Writer
Despite losing their two opening singles matches in the Group II Davis Cup tie against hosts Lebanon yesterday non-playing Jamaican captain Mel Spence says they will be fighting to the very end despite the odds against them coming back in the tie.
Jamaica’s top player, Blaise Bicknell, suffered stomach trouble on Thursday and was not at his best as he went down 7-6, 6-1 to Hady Habib. Rowland Phillips, who also had a good start against Hassan Benjamin, succumbed 7-6, 5-3 in the other singles match. However, the Jamaicans have a doubles and two more singles games today and Spence said they are not giving up hope as yet.
“We are disappointed, but we did our best. However, we are not out of it as yet. We are not finished until the last point is won. So we will remain hopeful until the last point,” he told The Gleaner yesterday.
He noted that with the fitness concerns to Bicknell, they will wait until the last minute to decide which two players will contest the doubles match.
“Blaise had stomach issues last night (Thursday) and was up most of the night. He started the match very well and was 5-2 up, but then his energy levels started dropping after that, and no matter how he tried he just couldn’t get his energy levels back up,” Spence revealed.
“Blaise did an IV (intravenous therapy) today (Friday) and will do another tomorrow maybe with Randy. But we have up to an hour before the game to decide who plays, and we will wait up to that time to see who is fit to play because their health is the most important thing.”
He added also that Phillips had some good opportunities to upstage his opponent, but never made use of his chances.
“Randy played a fantastic game. He had some opportunities to win the first set, but didn’t capitalise and he eventually lost the set 7-5. In the second set he got broken pretty early and that was the deciding factor. But when you are playing at a level where your opponent is ranked in the 200s and you do not capitalise on your opportunities, they will realise that very quickly and will make you pay. But Randy did very well,” he stated.
Today’s doubles match is set for 3 a.m., Jamaica time.