The Eric Bell Tennis Centre in Kingston will be buzzing with excitement on Saturday as Jamaica’s Davis Cup team takes on New Zealand in their Davis Cup Group Two play-off tie.

In the opening match, starting at 11:00 this morning, Jamaica’s number one player Blaise Bicknell is set to face-off against his New Zealand counterpart Jack Loutit.

In the second match of the day, Rowland “Randy” Phillips is scheduled to challenge Kiranpai Pannu from New Zealand at 2:00 pm.

The other members of the Jamaica team are John Chin, Nicholas Gore, and Daniel Azar.

Bicknell, who said he has fully recovered from hip surgery that sidelined him for over six months, is eager to compete.

“I am excited to go out there, and hopefully, I can kick us off strong with the first win,” he said. “This guy is a good player, but I am confident in my abilities and what I can do because the aim is to get us off to a good start,” Bicknell added.

He indicated that his preparations leading up to the championship have gone well, as he has been hitting the ball cleanly in practice.

“My body is feeling good because I have been putting in a lot of work with the team, and I am feeling 100 per cent ready to go. They have also been practising really well this week, and we have been working hard so we are all feeling good going into this tie,” Bicknell stated.

Phillips, a veteran player on the team, is also expressing confidence ahead of the start of the tournament.

“I am feeling really good,” he said. “We have been training very hard, and we have been putting in the work on and off the court, so I am really looking forward to it. The Davis Cup is one of my favourite times to play, so I am really loving this opportunity to represent my country.”

New Zealand Captain Artem Sitak said his players are ready for action.

“We are feeling good because we love the Davis Cup. Obviously, tennis is a very selfish sport, but our team environment is awesome, and [Jamaica] is looking good, so it is going to be some exciting matches,” he said.

“We are very prepared because we came here nine days ago, knowing that the conditions would be pretty tough with the heat and humidity. Luckily we were able to arrive early and get ready for this tie.”

President of Tennis Jamaica John Azar noted that all is in place for a successful championship and he is optimistic that the Jamaicans will do well.

“We have put a lot of preparation into the venue, and I am very confident that everything is going to go smoothly over the two days. Looking at our team, I feel great about the boys because they looked sharp on the court, have been working hard, and have good chemistry,” he said.

“The preparations have been excellent. We had three training camps, and the ITF Futures tournament gave a lot of our players exposure against top-level competition. Then we had the All Jamaica Championship in December, so the guys are good to go,” Azar said.