March 3, 2011

WACO, Texas - Sophomore Roberto Maytin was recently selected to represent his home country of Venezuela in its upcoming Davis Cup tie against Haiti beginning on Friday in Caracas, Venezuela. The appearance will be Maytin's fourth in Davis Cup play.

In the tie, two singles contests will be played on the first day, a doubles match on the second day and then two more singles matches on the third day. The team that wins three out of the five matches will advance to the next round of competition.

Maytin hopes to play in both the singles and doubles match in this tie, after serving as a doubles specialist in his previous Davis Cup appearances.

"I think every kid wants to play Davis Cup," Maytin said. "To play for your country is the best thing ever and it is going to be in front of a huge crowd. It is going to be amazing. The times I have played before I have had good experiences, so I am happy to go back and play again."

Maytin last played in a Davis Cup three years ago. This season for Baylor, Maytin has gotten off to a 6-1 start in dual-match play and he is ranked 110th in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association's singles rankings.

"It is a big honor for Roberto," head coach Matt Knoll said. "I know he is super excited about it. He wants to play tennis after college and being a part of the Davis Cup team in Venezuela is going to be a big part of that for him."

Regardless of the outcome against Haiti, Venezuela will have another match in July against either Paraguay or Puerto Rico. The possible match against Puerto Rico could pit Maytin against his assistant coach, Chris Brandi, who will be on that Puerto Rican Davis Cup team. Brandi will be in action on Friday as well against Paraguay. Currently, Venezuela is ranked 46th out of 132 in the Davis Cup rankings and in group two of the four tier Davis Cup system.

Beside Brandi and Maytin, other Bears who have participated in Davis Cups include Sergio Ramirez who played for Columbia, while former assistant Rob Cheyne played for New Zealand and former Bears Denes Lukacs, Benjamin Becker and Matija Zgaga also participated for their countries.

For more information on the Davis Cup or for results of the Venezuelan and Puerto Rican matches visit www.daviscup.com.