Daniel Phillips and Trey Mallory will spearhead Bermuda’s challenge in their Davis Cup World Group II tie against Mexico at WER Joell Stadium this weekend.

The opening day of singles pits Bermuda’s top-ranked Phillips against Mexico’s Alan Magadán, while Mallory meets Mexican No 1 Alex Hernández, the world No 417.

Phillips and Mallory are also Bermuda’s nominated doubles pairing, with the duo set to face Magadán and Luis Álvarez tomorrow morning.

In the reverse singles, Phillips is slated to face Hernández and Mallory take on Magadán, but both captains can alter their doubles and second day singles selections, as match referee Miguel Ternera outlined at the draw.

“I’m playing first up and I’m excited to be starting off for the country,” Phillips told The Royal Gazette.

“I’m likely to play three matches the whole weekend, which I’m used to. I did it last time in Cyprus against Georgia, so it’s nothing I’m not used to, but I’m feeling ready.

“The preparation has been great. I’ve got my team-mates around me and that’s all that I need.

“I’m hoping to just come out with a great attitude, great spirit and just to battle. We hope to win those first two matches and go to win every match, that’s the goal.”

Phillips, with a global rating of 1,598, is not paying attention to where his opponents are ranked.

“I don’t check their rankings and stuff,” the 21-year-old said.

“I’ve seen them hitting on the court the whole week. It looks like they’ve settled, gotten used to the courts and the speed here.

“I wish them luck and I’m really focused on us and the team. I don't think about them when I’m on the court, I think about myself.”

With international action returning to the island to a positive response from local fans, the Tulane University senior is relishing the chance to entertain the spectators.

“I’m so excited to be playing in front of a good crowd,” he said.

“That’s what this tournament is all about to me, having the community, the grassroots and just giving them international exposure and seeing what they’ve built.

“It takes a village to make a person and giving back to that village to see what they’ve created is really my goal.”

Drafted in as Bermuda’s No 2 singles player in place of Wayne Montgomery, Mallory declared himself ready to deliver on both days.

“We’re ready to play our matches because that's what we’re training for,” he said.

“We’re just hoping to do our best and leave it all out on the court. We want to win, so hopefully, we get the victory.

“It’s good to hear that the stadium has been sold out and Bermudians will be there to support us.

“We just want to bring even more effort and energy for them because it’s our home crowd, we just want to make them proud.”

Bermuda captain Ricky Mallory is ready to shuffle his line-up depending on results on the opening day.

“There’s a lot of factors that go into a change,” Mallory said.

“How the first singles players are feeling, how the player that I’m going to put in is feeling, if the person is sick or if the person is injured.

“If the tie is on the line there’s certain changes that can be made. The players not selected will play an important supportive role, because this is a total team effort and we are all united.”

Mexico captain Adrián Contreras, whose team arrived last Saturday, backed his players to get the job done.

“We’re very confident in both our players,” Contreras said.

“I think they’re both coming in playing really well, so it doesn’t really matter who started.

“We know their players are going to be ready. They’re very well adapted to the conditions, they’re from here and they’re going to have all the people supporting them.

“We had a really good week of training and I believe we adapted the best we could to the conditions, which are very humid. The heat is going to be a factor, but we are ready.”

When Bermuda defeated Georgia 3-2 in Cyprus at the beginning of the year, Mexico slumped to a 3-1 defeat at the hands of Greece in the Group I play-offs.

“We were not surprised when Bermuda beat Georgia,” the Mexico coach said.

“Ranking-wise, the players are not very high. One of them is a great player, Daniel Phillips, we know him from other events.

“We know he’s played at a very high level in college. Some of my players also played college tennis, so they know each other.

“We know both of the Bermuda players can beat anyone, so we’ve got to be ready for them.”

With rain in the forecast on both days, Ternera mentioned that the matches could be extended to Monday and Tuesday if needed.

“We can push the tie to Tuesday if we have to,” the World Tennis official said.

“The weather is changing a lot and we will see what happens. Hopefully, we don’t get any disruptions.”