Cook Islands tennis player Brett Baudinet will captain Pacific Oceania in the 2021 Davis Cup. Photo: Supplied
Tennis player Brett Baudinet feels he is getting "better and better" as he gets older.
The 41-year-old Cook Islander is part of the Pacific Oceania heading to Barbados to compete in the Davis Cup early next month.
The multi-national team has been drawn as the fifth seed in the World Group 2 after regaining their place in the group last year.
Baudinet told the Cook Islands News the upcoming tie "is going to be a tough battle again for us, they always are tough in Davis Cup, especially as Barbados have home court advantage".
"Every year we have to nominate ourselves for the Davis Cup team, and every time I get selected it brings me chills. I am 41 years young, and I've been on the team almost half my life.
"It has been an absolute blast and I feel my results have only got better and better as the years have got on. So I feel fortunate enough that I still have a few years ahead of me."
The team will be arriving there a week early to get acclimatised and train on the court surfaces.
Pacific Oceania also includes Colin Sinclair from the Northern Marianas Islands, Clement Mainguy from Vanuatu, Gillian Osmont from Tahiti, and Matavao Fanguna from Tonga.
Sinclair is in hot form having won the APT Challenger Open New Caledonia doubles final in Noumea earlier this month with Rubin Statham of New Zealand.
The duo beat top seeds, Toshihide Matsui and Kaito Uesugi of Japan, in the final in straight sets and the result saw Sinclair's doubles ranking soar by just over 100 places to No.262 in the world.
'One of the hardest ties we will have'
"I'm super excited," Baudinet said about the tie. "The Pacific Oceania team is currently ranked 71 in the world out of 153 countries, ranking higher than the likes of Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand.
"Pretty amazing for us small Pacific islanders in one of the most popular sports in the world ... I am super proud of our boys and management and team that is behind us and our achievements to date."
Baudinet has a 13-2 winning record for doubles in the last four years.
"I will be mainly focusing on doubles as usual, and I'm feeling confident going in. I've had some great results in recent years which helps add to my confidence going in," he told the newspaper.
Baudinet warns, however, that the tie against Barbados, who are ranked No.53 in the world, will be "one of the hardest ties we will have yet".
After being defeated by Estonia last year, Pacific Oceania was relegated back to Group 3 last year. But at a competition in Vietnam they beat all the nations they played, including top seeds Vietnam, to get move back up a level.
The Caribbean nation is expected to be led by Darian King who is the only Barbadian in the ATP rankings in the singles, at 845.
The tie will be take place in Barbados on February 3 and 4.
The Pacific Mini Games gold medalist Colin Sinclair of the CNMI Photo: Mark Rabago
