Three members of the Bermuda Davis Cup team are working with strength and conditioning coach Liam Evans as they prepare for next week’s World Group II tie with Mexico.

Wayne Montgomery, Trey Mallory and Tariq Simons have been having sessions with Evans in the build up to the fixture.

“It’s a huge honour to help Team Bermuda prepare for the upcoming matches against Mexico,” Evans told The Royal Gazette.

“They’ve done incredibly well to be in this position and to be able to host this match against high-quality opposition.

“I’m just happy to provide my services and help the team in any way that I can going forward up until the matches next week.

“I’ve been fortunate in my career to help a lot of our island’s top athletes. Our team’s trained for international games, competitions, tournaments, things like that from essentially the youth level right up to pro.

“So when Ricky reached out to me with this opportunity, I was more than grateful and more than happy to help the team prepare.

“I think Ricky and I actually have a mutual connection. I trained two pro tennis players from Antigua and Bahamas that Ricky knows, so when he reached out, we got the ball rolling.”

Evans has tailored his training to suit the needs of the players.

“I have individualised the training to each player’s needs and characteristics and help each of them to be hopefully at their peak or at least close to it when it comes time for competition.

“It’s involved some return to play with some players or movement preparation with others. Just figuring out ways without getting too deep into the strength and conditioning side of things.

“But when you have essentially a shorter period of time to prepare, you have to understand it’s not just the sport, but also what each individual athlete’s history is, what their past is, what their training experience is, if they’ve had any injuries or if they’re dealing with any injuries.

“All these things go into what I think about when it comes to their training. I had a quick intake with all of them and found out everything I needed to know and it’s been going great ever since.”

Coach Ricky Mallory believes the training with Evans brings a different dimension to the team’s preparations.

“Adding Liam Evans’s high-performance training to our Bermuda Davis Cup programme has added another level of intensity and professionalism to our preparation,” Mallory said.

“It allows us to focus not only on tennis, but on the physical demands required to compete at the highest level.”

Also training with the Bermuda team are foreign Davis Cup players, Jamaican John Chin and Kaipo Marshall, from Barbados.

“We have also included two International Davis Cup players, one from Jamaica and one from Barbados, to join our sessions which has also proven to be a great addition,” the Bermuda coach said.

“It creates a highly competitive training environment, exposes our players to different styles and perspectives, and brings a true Caribbean Davis Cup dynamic to our preparation.

“For me as a coach, the biggest benefit is that every player is being pushed outside of their comfort zone.

“We are creating an environment where everyone has to compete, work and raise their level every single day.

“The standard of our training has to reflect the standard we expect when we step on court to represent Bermuda.”

On the rest of the players, Mallory indicated that Daniel Phillips is arriving on Saturday, while Zachary McGuire is joining the team next week as he is still settling in at Sacred Heart University in Connecticut, where he is a freshman.