Bermuda Lawn Tennis Association president Michael Wolfe hopes to see the island’s Davis Cup team go from strength to strength in regional competition.

Bermuda’s team of Trey Mallory, Daniel Phillips, James Finnigan and Gavin Manders helped the island retain its Davis Cup Americas group three status for the first time and achieve its highest finish of fifth at the tournament in Paraguay last week.

Wolfe said the island should be proud of the team’s performance and predicts even better things to come.

“I can simply label the 2023 Bermuda Davis Cup campaign as one of many firsts,” Wolfe told The Royal Gazette.

“Once again the team has successfully punched above its weight and performed in a manner that Bermuda tennis supporters and the public should be proud of.

“Watching a mixed team of veterans and younger players find the right formula to keep Bermuda in group three for the first time is quite the accomplishment when you consider we are up against tennis nations that have professional players participating who are ranked in the world’s top 500,” Wolfe added.

“I would also like to give particular mention to the outstanding performance of national coach Ricky Mallory, who has yet again in a pressure-packed event guided the Bermuda team to new heights. His accomplishments, along with the team’s, should not go unnoticed.

“Bermuda has yet again surpassed its expectations for this event and the Bermuda Lawn Tennis Association looks forward to further growth in years to come."

Bermuda’s representatives saved the best for last as they pulled off a stunning 2-1 upset over No 2. seed Dominican Republic in their final match to end their campaign on a high.

Mallory and Phillips sealed the tie in the deciding doubles match with victory over Emmanuel Muñoz and Peter Bertran, who has a career-high ATP singles ranking of 540.

“Defeating Dominican Republic, who were seeded second overall in the tournament, was a huge accomplishment,” Mallory said.

“Hopefully next year we can do even better. It was a great experience competing against some of the powerhouses in our region. Being the smallest nation in group three, it was good to gauge where we’re at compared to the other teams.

“The level of play was extremely high. There are no slouches in group three with some countries having players ranked in the top 500.”

Phillips was delighted to see the island achieve its primary objective at the event.

“Going in, our main objective was to stay up in group three because that has never been done before and to create a little bit of history,” he said.

“I was wondering why that was the mentality of the objective going into this tournament until I got here and saw the high level of each different country and their players and understood right away. The level was high and everyone was on point and wanted to represent.

“This meant a lot to me because I got the chance to go out and represent my country.

“What we achieved honestly is crazy and a surreal feeling and I am just happy we all came together, put the work in and had a great week.”

Finnigan was confident he and his fellow team-mates would be equal to the task heading into the tournament.

“I knew we had the squad to do it this year as we were all motivated and everyone was confident in each other,” he said.

“The week was unbelievable. The camaraderie on the team was always good and I think everyone came together well with Daniel coming in as a new player and filling the spot really nicely.”