Members of the Bermuda tennis team are gearing up for their first appearances at the Central American and Caribbean Games in Dominican Republic today.

Daniel Phillips, Trey Mallory, Shelby Madeiros and Nadhira Durham are making their debuts at the event, with Bermuda’s last appearance at the Games coming in 2010 when Caitlin Gordon, Jacklyn Lambert, Tara Lambert, Naim Azhar, Gavin Manders, David Thomas and Neil Towlson were the island’s representatives in Mayagüez, Puerto Rico.

In the men’s singles round of 32, Phillips has been drawn to play against Diego Duran, from El Salvador, while Mallory is squaring off with Aydan Gomez Osorio, of Curaçao.

Mallory and Phillips will play the Honduras pair of Daniel Caceres and Mario Rivera in the doubles.

Nadhira is facing Sarah Nita, from Curaçao, with Madeiros drawn to play Cuban Roxana Valdez in the women’s singles opening round. In the doubles, their opponents are Katherine Dibbs and Kinaa Graham, of Jamaica.

Madeiros, the senior member of the women’s team, acknowledged coach Steve Bean for helping them prepare for the competition.

“To start off, we had a lot of preparation with our coach, Steve Bean, and we were practising quite frequently leading up to the tournament,” Madeiros told The Royal Gazette.

“We were training during peak hours to get accustomed to the heat that we were preparing for in Dominican Republic.

“After a couple of sessions here we find that we were able to acclimatise quite well. Also, we were preparing ourselves best with match play to get ourselves familiar and be best prepared for the competition to expect out here.”

Madeiros and Durham were part of the Bermuda team that finished ninth overall at the Billie Jean King Cup Americas Zone Group III last month.

“Just coming off from the Billie Jean King Cup, we are expecting quite tough competition, especially being our first time and knowing that it’s going to be players from all across the region,” the 23-year-old said.

“Nadhira and I are quite well-versed in playing players from across the region, so we know what to expect. As far as for me, putting my best effort forward is what I’m used to and that is all that I can ask of myself.

“I know that the competition is going to be tough but that doesn’t necessarily mean that we aren’t capable of performing at a high level regardless of a loss or a win so going into the competition we hope for the best and we can only prepare ourselves for what we know what we can expect.”

After the final training session on Thursday, Bean felt that the women were in the right groove.

“Nadira and Shelby have practised together for two days,” the coach said.

“The first day we got there they couldn’t really find the groove they wanted, but today [Thursday] we trained again from 11am to 1pm and they looked much better.

“So they’re settling in and are looking forward to starting tomorrow. The girls play in the first round in the morning, then the boys play and then the girls are playing doubles after.

“They play against Jamaica in the afternoon, a team that they’ve played before. They know both the girls, they’re walking around the village here, bumping into each other and hugging, that kind of stuff because they know each other well.

“That’s one of the good things about being at an event like this, the same girls that you play in Billie Jean and various tournaments growing up.

“We’re looking forward to tomorrow and we’re hoping that our girls get off to a good start. Spirits are high, girls are feeling OK, health-wise, and we’ll let the chips fall where they may.”

Ricky Mallory, the men’s coach, shared the enthusiasm in his camp as the Davis Cup prepare to get on court.

“Trey and Daniel are ready and excited to begin competition tomorrow,” he said.

“We’ve been here for the past few days, training daily, making some final adjustments to the string tension on their rackets and getting accustomed to the newly resurfaced courts.

“The atmosphere in the Athletes’ Village is incredible. It’s inspiring to see so many athletes gathered in one place, proudly representing their countries across a wide range of sports.

“The energy and camaraderie have created a truly special environment and the food has also been outstanding.

“The organisers have built a massive indoor dining hall featuring numerous food stations, offering an impressive variety of cuisines to cater to athletes from around the world.”