The Ireland Davis Cup team to play El Salvador for a place in the World Group I Playoffs has been announced. The tie will be played as a best of five rubbers over two days, on the clay courts in Sonsonate, El Salvador on 16th and 17th September.
Announcing the team of Osgar O’hOisin, Michael Agwi, Simon Carr, Conor Gannon and David O’Hare, captain Conor Niland said: “We are very excited for the upcoming tie against El Salvador, which brings together the same five players that won against Barbados last year”.
The tie is likely to be a tough one for Ireland given the expected presence on the other team of Marcelo Arevalo, currently ranked no. 8 in doubles (previously ranked 139 in singles).
As Niland explained: “El Salvador’s number one, Marcelo Arevalo, won the Roland Garros doubles title in 2022 so it will be an excellent test for us. But we will do everything we can to get another away win at this level’.
Conor Niland has officially named David O’Hare as Vice-Captain for the tie. As a former ranked 120 ATP doubles player and current coach of Joe Salisbury and Rajeev Ram (Australian and US Open Champions) David O’Hare brings great experience as a player and as Vice-Captain for the tie “I think this tie will be a great challenge for the team and I’m looking forward to seeing how much everyone has developed over the last few months. On a personal level I’m excited to be stepping into a new role as Vice-Captain”.
Within the Ireland team there is great experience including Simon Carr and Osgar O’hOisin who both made their debuts in 2018 with 12 and 8 ties respectively. Simon Carr has been absent from the tour due to injury but is match fit for the upcoming tie and Osgar has been steadily climbing up the rankings throughout the year. He currently holds a ranking of 835.
Speaking of the tie, Carr said “I’m really looking forward to our tie again El Salvador in September. It has been a tough couple of months for me personally dealing with multiple injuries but excited to join up with the team and hopefully get over the line in this tie and back to a World Group I playoff”.
Michael Agwi made his debut for Ireland against Peru in February and has had some promising and close results against some top ranked ATP players in recent weeks.
Since transferring to Memphis in 2022 (currently ranked 36 in Division 1) Conor has had an impressive win record in both singles and doubles as well as winning the top tournaments in Ireland over the summer.
In February Ireland competed against Peru in the World Group I Play-offs in a tough tie that ended 4-0 to Peru at the highest-level Ireland has competed in nearly 40 years.
The full Ireland team to face El Salvador in September is as follows:
Osgar O’hOisin
Michael Agwi
Simon Carr
Conor Gannon
David O’Hare (also Vice-Captain)
First reserve: Freddy Murray
Tennis Ireland would like to wish the best of luck to all the players and Captain Conor Niland on an exciting tie ahead.
Make sure to follow Tennis Ireland on social media for all the latest action in the lead up to and throughout the tie to get behind the boys in green.
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