JAMAICA’S senior tennis team Head Coach Mel Spence says they are in good shape and ready to give a good account of themselves at the Pan American Games which will be held in Santiago, Chile, from October 20 to November 5.

The Jamaican team, which will be led by the country’s number one player Blaise Bicknell, also includes John Chin and Rowland Phillips. The Jamaicans are coming off a 4-0 loss to Lebanon in their Davis Cup Group Two play-off last month. However, Spence told the Jamaica Observer that the team has gotten over that result and is now very focused on doing well in Chile.

“I am overjoyed that we have this many guys with the ability to compete in these games,” Spence said. “I think that, as you know, the finalist and winner goes to the Olympic Games next year — which is monumental for these guys — so it is very exciting times for myself, and the players especially.

“The players are feeling really good because we are playing pretty close to the best of the best, however it is going to be an extremely tough competition. But, I have faith in these guys; and whenever they put on their Jamaican gear they turn into different athletes because they play with such pride and they also seem to play harder than ever.”

Bicknell, who has been in strong form this season, won a bronze medal for the country at the Central American and Caribbean Games (CAC) in El Salvador in July. He has also moved his International Tennis Federation world ranking from 830 to 430 in the past four months. Chin, who is now the country’s number two-ranked player, lost in the first round of the singles event at the CAC Games.

Spence shared that the Pan Am Games is going to be more difficult than the CAC Games.

“I think that the Pan Am Games is a level up from the CAC Games because the competition is a lot stiffer from what it is in CAC Games. And these guys are just coming off Davis Cup and they have been playing a couple of professional tournaments over summer, so they are readier than they were before the CAC Games,” he said.

Bicknell says he is in excellent shape at the moment and has nothing to fear from his opponents at the Pan Am Games.

“I am feeling confident because I have been in very good form recently, as my ranking has risen from 830 in the world to 430, and so I am very confident going into it,” he said. “I think it is a great opportunity for me as well as the other Jamaicans to have a shot at the Olympic Games next summer.

“Winning that bronze medal is one of the proudest moments of my career so far, so I will be chasing that feat again at the Pan Am Games and, hopefully, walk away with a medal.”

John Chin, who is attending Boise State University in the United States, says he is in good shape going into this tournament and is confident that he will do well.

“I am at my university right now training with my team and I am going to play some tournaments with the team to get some solid match practise for the Pan Am Games so I can be ready,” he said.

“I am feeling even more confident and more prepared than when I went to the CAC Games. I have no injuries, no issues, so I am expecting to go there and do well. A medal for me will be huge, and that is my goal going into the Pan Am Games so I am working very hard towards that for this tournament.”