Jamaica Davis Cup coach Mel Spence expects home court advantage to play big factor in Estonia tie

By January 27, 2023
Mel Spence. 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

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.

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