James Watt selected for NZ Davis Cup debut
- Dave Worsley
- Jul 29
- 2 min read
South Canterbury's James Watt has been named to debut for the New Zealand Davis Cup team to take on Georgia in the upcoming tie.
The team consists of Ajeet Rai, Finn Reynolds, Jack Loutit, Isaac Becroft and Watt.
Rai is likely to be the top singls player with a ranking of 505 while doubles specialist Reynolds, currently ranked at an impressive 121 is named for the sixth time, alongside Jack Loutit who has proved to be a strong competitor against higher ranked opponents.
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Becroft gets his third call-up into the team, while Watt has earned his first selection.
“I’m super excited to represent New Zealand for the first time,” said Watt, 25. “It’s been a dream of mine to be selected for the Davis Cup team. Now it’s my time, it’s a pretty cool feeling.”
Watt has shot up the rankings in both singles and doubles over the last few months, creating a successful pairing on the ATP Challenger Tour with fellow Davis Cup team member Reynolds. Since they began playing together in March, Wattt has climbed an impressive 184 places in the world rankings, and is now ranked 134.
Watt has also moved up to an ATP singles ranking of 590 after qualifying and reaching the quarterfinals of the Newport Challenger and also qualifying at three other recent Challengers.
The World Group II clash will take place on 13-14 September, and will mark the second time in a row Fly Palmy Arena will host the World Cup of Tennis, following a sellout weekend last year where New Zealand suffered a narrow defeat to Luxembourg.
New Zealand’s non-playing Davis Cup captain Artem Sitak will lead the squad once again, having made his captaincy debut last year in Palmerston North. Sitak brings years of international experience and a deep connection to the Davis Cup environment as a former player.
“We’ve got unfinished business in Palmy. Last year the atmosphere was incredible, and we were so close, but this year I know we’ll give even more and get the right result for the Manawatū fans,” said Sitak.
Day one features two singles matches, day two features the doubles match and reverse singles matches.
