Dear Editor,

As we all know by now, Team Jamaica will be travelling to Lebanon to compete in the Davis Cup Group Two tie come September 15-16. Unfortunately, the team, coaches, fans, and the general public have had a front seat view to the recent unnecessary saga between my teammate Blaise Bicknell and Tennis Jamaica.

It is very unfortunate that my fellow teammate and long-time “friend” Blaise has publicly come out and made such damaging remarks about me. He has made it his moral duty to hit out at the selection criteria of Tennis Jamaica and says that I have not proved myself worthy of being automatically selected to represent Jamaica in the next Group Two tie.

Let me make it very clear that it was not my decision, neither my father’s, John Azar, decision, to have me be automatically selected to the team. That decision was made unanimously by the team Captain Mel Spence, team Manager Errol Campbell, and team Coach Noel Rutherford before having it accepted by the Technical Committee unanimously as well. This is a fact.

The recent comments made that this process was “biased” because my father is the president of Tennis Jamaica could not be more further from the truth. I have dedicated myself 100 per cent to the sport of tennis and have got where I am today through discipline and hard work. I am one of the youngest, if not the youngest, player in Jamaica to have ever qualified for senior Davis Cup in January 2022 and have now represented Jamaica three times at this level. I have proved myself on many occasions as being one of Jamaica’s top national players, and the one person who has come out publicly against my selection is my fellow teammate, which makes me wonder what is his true agenda?

I am no stranger to competition and was/am more than willing to participate in trials to prove my level of tennis and fitness once again. I had a serious injury playing a tournament in April and worked hard to rehabilitate and get back to full fitness. I would have expected my teammate and those closest to him to have been happy for me.

It deeply saddens me that the situation has reached the point at which I have to speak publicly on the matter, but I have remained silent for too long. This has been very damaging to the team and our team chemistry of which everyone speaks so highly. It also is disappointing that I have to be the one to defend myself publicly instead of others who have been silent during all of this when a statement from them could help to control the matter.

I fear that Team Jamaica is more disconnected than ever at the moment and hope that all of this can change as we have a very important tie in just a matter of weeks. This is what we as a team should be focusing on instead of publicly bashing one another.

Daniel Azar

danielazar101@gmail.com