Cuba Returns to Davis Cup Tennis

HAVANA TIMES — Cuba will return to the Davis Cup after four years of not competing, decided the National Sports Commission on Tuesday, reported DPA news.

The players William Dorante, Randy White and Roberto Cruz Cuba will represent Cuba on June 17-22 in the Bolivian city of La Paz, in group III of the American Zone.

The athletes will play series of two-game singles and one doubles against players from  Bahamas, Bermuda, Costa Rica, Honduras, Jamaica, Panama, Paraguay and host Bolivia.

The teams will be divided into two groups, with the top two teams in each group making it to the semifinals. The tournament winner will move up to group II of the Davis Cup American Zone for 2014.

Cuba began its participation in the Davis Cup in 1924, with a team of Rogelio Paris, Zayas and Guillermo Ignacio Sanchez, losing 3-2 to Canada.

In 1925 the competition took place in Havana, with the hosts suffereing a 5-0 defeat to Spain.

For 30 years, Cuba maintained its participation in the competition but with poor results. Starting with the year of the 1959 Revolution began a long absence from the Davis Cup that ended in 1987.

Cuba’s best performance came in 1993 when its opponent Yugoslavia was expelled from the qualifying round of Group II in 1992. Cuba lost its next four rounds in Group II and has never again reached that level.