The Bahamas' senior men's national tennis team got to the Americas Group III semifinals this past weekend, but fell 2-0 to Jamaica at the Centro de Alto Rendimiento Fred Maduro in Panama City, Panama.

Coming into Saturday, Bahamians Justin Roberts and Kevin Major Jr. had not lost any of their two singles matches in the group stage. However, on Saturday, both fell to their opponents and the doubles match was not needed. Jamaica was one of the two teams from the tournament to advance to the World Group II Playoffs in 2022. Guatemala was the other one.

Player/captain Marvin Rolle, who played two doubles matches alongside Baker Newman, said the tie with Jamaica was good but their opponent came out strong.

“It was a good Davis Cup tie. We got to the semifinals, so we gave ourselves a chance to go up. Jamaica came out strong. (Jamaican Rowland Phillips) only had about five unforced errors the whole match, so he definitely played solidly. Major had his chances, but he could not pull through. Roberts came out with the first set win and was up, but his opponent started playing very well and solidly. Give credit to Jamaica – they played strong,” Rolle said.

Rolle sports a 26-19 win/loss record in doubles in Davis Cup play. Newman has a 2-2 record in doubles. They fell short in doubles in both Group A ties this past weekend.

Major, The Bahamas’ second-seeded player in the tournament, was up first against Rowland Phillips in the tie against Jamaica. Major dropped the first set 6-3. Known for coming back in his matches, as shown in his first set losses all tournament, Major was unable to pull off a comeback this time. Phillips won the second set 6-2 to finish off the match in straight sets.

“It was a tough match,” Major said. “Overall, the tournament was a good tournament. It was only my second tournament for the year. I have improved a lot. I played two tough matches but was able to pull them out after losing the first set. I learnt that I could play a lot better tennis and I have been playing a lot better.”

The Bahamian was able to serve one ace in the second set and was able to win 24 first serve points. In his first game on Wednesday, he took down Cuban Lazaro Navarro-Batles, 4-6, 6-2 and 6-2. The Bahamian National Champion returned on Friday to take down Guatemalan Christopher Diaz-Figueroa, 3-6, 6-2 and 6-4. The 26-year-old now has a 6-8 record in singles at Davis Cup.

Major is looking forward to representing The Bahamas in the future, but says every time he plays in a tournament, he represents his country. He will come back home for two weeks before returning to Germany to train and play in tournaments.

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