Davis Cup Playoff Cancelled, Team To Be Selected

The Antigua and Barbuda Tennis Association (ABTA) has been forced to forgo its planned Davis Cup playoffs following poor responses from the country’s pool of eligible players.
This is according to president Cordell Williams, who said that less than five players responded to the email sent out late November last year, inviting players to register for the December 2017 playoffs.
The International Tennis Federation (ITF), the sport’s world governing body, Williams added, had also taken interest in the association’s move to host a
playoff.
“Only three players answered the call which was Jody Maginley, Cordell Williams Jr. and Carlton Bedminister. After that email went out, ITF [International Tennis Federation] then wrote to us saying that if we hold the playoff, they expect the best players from our region, Antigua and Barbuda, to represent us,” he said.
“This means that a player like Jody Maginley, who is now a professional on tour, wouldn’t be required to come home and take part in any trials because he is already on tour playing and already has ATP ranking,” he added.
The tennis association had hoped to select a four-member Davis Cup team coming out of the planned playoffs. The move came following questions over the selection process used to select last year’s team of Jody Maginley, Carlton Bedminister, Cordell Williams Jr. and Kevin Gardner.
Gardner however, did not attend the 2017 edition of the Davis Cup held in Uruguay, following confusion over the purchase of an airline ticket.
According to Williams however, the country has been forced to delay a planned Fed Cup debut owing to a similar issue involving the availability of players.
“We are still having problems getting the Davis Cup team right. One thing I have suggested to the executive is maybe we need to look and go back towards the OECS where we will have a bigger pool of players to choose from to represent the region if things are not working out in terms of Antigua and Barbuda on its own in terms of the players,” he said.
Antigua and Barbuda will compete in Zone 3 of the Davis Cup slated to run from 28 May to 2 June in Costa Rica.
They will play against hosts Costa Rica, Bermuda, Cuba, Bahamas, Honduras, Jamaica, Panama, Paraguay and Trinidad & Tobago.