Cyprus to host prestigious Davis Cup tennis events in June

Cyprus is in June set to host prestigious international tennis events that will see the Cypriot Davis Cup Team seek qualification within the European Zone Group B promotion play-offs.

According to a statement by the Cyprus Tennis Federation, Herodotou Academy will host the Davis Cup World Cup matches between 12 and 17 June for the second time. The first time was in 2021.

Referring to the event’s organisation, the captain of the Cypriot team, Dimitris Herodotou told the Cyprus News Agency (CNA) that the previous experience would prove an advantage to the people who will work for the organisation of the tournament this time.

"We got the approval of the Cyprus Tennis Federation to contest for the event’s organisation from the International Tennis Federation. Two years ago, in the midst of a pandemic, we were given credit for a perfect organisation, which was probably the main reason why they trusted us again. In these two years our facilities have been upgraded, and with hard work we are confident that we will succeed again, in an event that can only bring profits to Cypriot tennis," he said.

Seven European countries will take part in the matches, competing for three tickets to the Group B promotion play-offs. The countries are Cyprus (75), Estonia (68), Malta (93), Moldova (95), Montenegro (91), North Macedonia (89) and San Marino (86). The numbers in brackets refer to the countries’ position in the World Ranking.

Regarding the team's goal, Herodotou said that securing one of the three playoff tickets was a must. "But we want to get the first place in Cyprus, mainly to please the fans who will come to support our athletes," he added.

It is a fact, Dimitris Herodotou continued, "that in recent years we came very close to securing the promotion, but details did not allow us to do so."

"We qualified relatively easily in the playoffs, but in the final knockout matches, both in the matches against Egypt last year and in those against Tunisia this year, we didn't make it in meetings held at the home of our rivals, falling short of a win or in some cases even a set lost by momentary circumstances. I hope that the new effort will start with good performances next June and will then be crowned with success," he added.

The preliminary call-up of the tennis players who have been training together for the last two months includes the six tennis players who made up the teams that participated in the Davis Cup last year, namely Petros Chrysochos, Menelaos Efstathiou, Eleftherios Neos, Sergis Kyratzis, Stylianos Christodoulou and Fotos Fotiadis.

The official call-up of the final five is expected in the coming week.

(Source: CNA)