Tym Glaser, Associate Editor - Sport
Eldad Campbell ... in the hunt for a Davis Cup singles berth against Guatemala next week. - JUNIOR DOWIE/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
JAMAICA'S MOST successful Davis Cup player, Ryan Russell, will lead the island's bid to stay in Americas Zone Group Two next week against Guatemala at the Tryall resort in Hanover, but the other singles berth is up for grabs.
Non-playing Davis Cup captain Douglas Burke yesterday said the second singles position would go to either talented Wolmer's schoolboy Eldad Campbell or Damion Johnson, who is playing junior college tennis in Texas.
Scott Willinsky, who played singles in the opening tie against the Dominican Republic which Jamaica lost 5-0 to push the team into the relegation battle with the Central Americans, was not selected in the four-man squad which also includes Cup veteran Jermaine Smith.
The obvious replacement would have been the University of Louisville's No. 1 player, Damar Johnson, but college team commitments have made him unavailable for the three-day tie which starts next Friday.
SCHOLARSHIP
"Obviously, we would love to have Damar in the squad," Burke said. "It's easy for us to say Davis Cup should take precedence, but they gave him a scholarship to play for the school and he has to honour his commitments," he said.
"It's the height of their NCAA season now ... it's unfortunate, but it is what it is and we just have to live with it and move forward."
That leaves Campbell, 17, and Johnson, 20, vying for the second singles berth.
"We'll just have to see how that goes over the next few days," Burke, who will gather the squad together this weekend at the resort, said.
"I've been working a lot with Eldad here and, while he has not played Davis Cup, he has some experience. We took him to the Dominican Republic this year with the squad to get him acclimatised to the Cup and he was on our Junior Davis Cup team," he said.
"Damion has been playing very well for his junior college in Texas and is sixth in the National Junior Collegiate Athletics Association rankings."
The Guatemalans lost a tight first-round tie away to the Netherland Antilles, 3-2, and Burke expects next week's clash to be keenly contested.
SOLID TEAM
The visitor's squad comprises No. 1 singles player, Cristian Paiz, 20-year-old Israel Morales, veteran playing captain Luis Perez-Chete and doubles specialist Manuel Chavez.
"They are a very solid team. We played them in Group Three in 2003 in Trinidad and beat them 2-1. They are tough and, like us, they don't want to go back down to Group Three."
The tie will be on the hardcourts at Tryall which Burke rates as medium paced.
"I think they are about the same speed as the Liguanea Club courts so our guys should have no problems adjusting," he said.
The Cup draw will take place at the resort, which is a co-sponsor of the team with Footlocker, next Thursday at 10:00 a.m. The tie will begin that time the next day with the opening singles matches.
