Mel Spence.
Jamaican Davis Cup Coach/Captain Mel Spence is confident that home-court advantage will be enough for his team to see off a tough challenge from Estonia in their group two qualifying fixture at the Eric Bell National Tennis Centre from February 4-5.
Estonia are currently ranked 59th in the world, ten spots ahead of the Jamaicans.
“The Estonia team is very good. On paper they have some rankings that are higher than us but that’s just on paper,” Spence said at a press conference on Thursday.
"We have the home court advantage and I think that’s going to push us through,” he added.
Spence noted that the Jamaican team comprising Blaise Bicknell, Jacob Bicknell, Daniel Azar, Randy Phillips and John Chin has been performing well for a while.
“I’m very confident in them. They’ve been playing very good tennis over the last six months to a year and they’ve gelled well. It’s basically the same team that we’ve had before. We have a tough opponent ahead of us but we’ve played tough opponents before and come out on top,” he said.
While the team can’t be together until a few days before the tie, Spence noted the amount of preparation that some members of the team are getting by competing for their universities overseas.
“Within their respective teams they’ll play matches against their other teammates but they just started the season so I’d say they play an average of two matches a week against other schools. That’s plenty of preparation for them.”
21-year-old Blaise Bicknell currently represents the University of Tennessee while Chin, 19, represents Boise State University. Bicknell is currently the highest ranked Jamaican on the ATP Tour at 764.
Bradley Jacks is a budding journalist and an avid sports fan. His love of research and sports has led him to SportsMax.tv, a place where those passions work hand in hand to allow him to produce content.
New mother Elina Svitolina hails ‘special’ French Open quarter-final spot
New mother Elina Svitolina continued her incredible grand slam return by defeating Daria Kasatkina to reach the quarter-finals of the French Open.
The Ukrainian gave birth to daughter Skai in October and played her first tournament in more than a year at the beginning of April.
She arrived in Paris on the back of a WTA title in Strasbourg and, watched by husband Gael Monfils, extended her winning run to eight matches with a 6-4 7-6 (5) success against ninth seed Kasatkina.
“Definitely I wouldn’t dream about this when I was giving birth in October last year,” said Svitolina.
“It’s unbelievable for me to be able to compete here and to get to the quarter-final is special. Hopefully I can push further. I’m really motivated to give my everything for the next matches.”
The former world number three, who can match her best ever grand slam run by making the semi-finals, overcame nerves at the end, twice failing to serve it out, before clinching victory in a tie-break.
Svitolina spent four years in the top 10 and is enjoying being able to play without so much expectation, saying: “I think this is one of the things that I noticed that right now I don’t have that pressure that I used to have before.
“Of course, me personally I put pressure for myself because I want to win a slam. This is the ultimate goal for me.
“But definitely not the pressure from outside. No one expects that I’m going to come into Roland Garros and make quarter-final at the beginning of the tournament.
“That’s why I feel like this really helps me. I feel almost like I’m 17 again coming on the tour fresh. I’m not defending any points. Not here, not next week. I feel more free.”
Kasatkina has been the most outspoken Russian player against the invasion of Ukraine and earned praise from Svitolina ahead of the contest.
View this post on InstagramShe knew Svitolina would stick to the Ukrainians’ policy of not shaking hands with Belarusian and Russian opponents, though, and gave a quick thumbs-up before heading straight to her chair.
One Russian is through to the last eight, with Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova arguably even more of a surprise than Svitolina.
The 31-year-old achieved the best result of her career here two years ago by reaching the final but underwent knee surgery last year and is ranked down at 333.
She recently lost 6-0 6-0 to Iga Swiatek in Rome but took out her third seed of the week with a 3-6 7-6 (3) 6-3 victory over Elise Mertens.
“I had a fear and doubts that maybe I will never win a match again,” said Pavlyuchenkova. “Maybe I will never get my good form back or I will never be fit again. What if I start playing again and the pain comes back and my knee is bad again?
“But I guess this motivation and this desire of coming back and competing again and being on these big stages again and playing three-hour matches like today, there was a lot more weight on that. So that kind of pushed me.
“I believed, I worked so hard and, even with all the failures that I had this year – and there were sometimes ridiculous matches that I lost – still kept on believing, working hard, and just persistence and patience.”
Pavlyuchenkova will next meet Czech Karolina Muchova, who reached her first French Open quarter-final with a 6-4 6-3 win over Elina Avanesyan.
Novak Djokovic reaches record 17th French Open quarter-final with clinical win
Novak Djokovic surpassed Rafael Nadal’s all-time record by reaching his 17th French Open quarter-final.
The 22-time grand slam champion defeated Juan Pablo Varillas 6-3 6-2 6-2 to maintain his run of not having lost before the last eight at Roland Garros since 2010 and set up a clash with 11th seed Karen Khachanov.
Djokovic is still 12 Paris titles behind Nadal though, and, with the Spaniard missing for the first time since 2004, his great rival knows what an opportunity this is.
He said: “I’m proud of it, but my attention is already on the next match. Obviously quarter-finals, Khachanov, I know what my goal is here. I’m trying to stay mentally the course and of course not look too far.
“Obviously the performance of today gives me a great deal of confidence about how I felt, about how I played. So I’m looking forward to the next match.”
Peruvian Varillas, ranked 94, has enjoyed the best week of his career but he had needed five sets to get through all three of his previous matches and was unable to trouble Djokovic.
The third seed had been pushed extremely hard by Alejandro Davidovich Fokina in his previous match and struggled physically, so this was a very welcome easy afternoon.
Djokovic raced into a 4-0 lead and the only time he looked in any discomfort was when Varillas won two games in a row and forced a break point in the next one.
The third seed, who criticised the crowd for booing while he took a medical time-out in his previous match, was again jeered for his reaction and cupped his hand to his ear after winning the next-but-one point.
There were plenty of cheers at the end, though, as Djokovic wrapped up the victory after an hour and 57 minutes.
He said of the crowd: “I thought they were great, especially at the end. They gave me a very nice chanting and support and, as a player, you always want to receive that love from the crowd.”
A semi-final blockbuster against Carlos Alcaraz is looming ever closer, and the Spaniard continued to look every inch a potential champion in a 6-3 6-2 6-2 victory over Lorenzo Musetti.
The 21-year-old Italian is a big talent, especially on clay, and this was a crowd-pleasing encounter, with Alcaraz pulling off several shots through his legs.
Ultimately it was a straightforward win, though, as world number one Alcaraz, who missed the Australian Open through injury, stayed on track for a second successive grand slam title.
Khachanov is bidding to reach the semi-finals at a third straight major tournament and he recovered from a poor first set to beat Italy’s Lorenzo Sonego 1-6 6-4 7-6 (7) 6-1.
Russian and Belarusian players seeking UK visas for Wimbledon experience delays
Russian and Belarusian players are experiencing delays obtaining UK visas in time for Wimbledon.
The All England Club and the Lawn Tennis Association reversed last year’s ban on competitors from the two countries following the invasion of Ukraine but there appears a chance some may not make it anyway.
Sixteen-year-old Mirra Andreeva is due to make her Wimbledon debut in qualifying but said after losing to Coco Gauff in the third round in Paris on Saturday that she was still waiting to be granted a visa.
Australian Open champion Aryna Sabalenka has also spoken about not having received her visa while world number two Daniil Medvedev pointedly said “if I’m able to come to UK to play Wimbledon” when talking about the grass-court season.
The Home Office is carrying out additional checks on Russian and Belarusian nationals, extending a wait that is currently at least six weeks, while fast-track options are not available to people from the two countries.
Wimbledon begins on July 3 and, speaking after reaching the French Open quarter-finals, Russian Karen Khachanov, who still has a visa from previous years, said: “I heard that it takes much longer to issue the visa.”
Under normal circumstances, Andreeva would be a strong candidate for a Wimbledon wild card, but it appears hugely unlikely the All England Club would offer such help at the moment.
Fellow Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, meanwhile, is set to miss the tournament because she is not currently ranked high enough to get into the main draw or qualifying.
Pavlyuchenkova is a former French Open finalist but was sidelined long term following knee surgery.
She is showing strong form in Paris, making it through to the quarter-finals, and was asked whether she could seek a wild card.
Pavlyuchenkova said incredulously: “Are you serious? Do you think after the situation last year they would give me a wildcard this year?”
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