Ortiz-Garcia brothers to represent Puerto Rico in 2018 Davis Cup
SMITHFIELD, R.I. – Brothers Jorge Ortiz-Garcia (Trujillo Alto, Puerto Rico) and Jorge Isaias Ortiz-Garcia (Trujillo Alto, Puerto Rico) have been selected to represent their home country of Puerto Rico and Bryant University men's tennis in the 2018 Davis Cup.
Puerto Rico vs. Bolivia Preview
Jorge Ortiz-Garcia and Froggy, his younger brother, will make Bryant men's tennis history when they compete against Bolivia in the Americas Group II on April 7-8 in Beni, Bolivia.
The Ortiz-Garcia's are joined on the Puerto Rican national team by Juan Enrique Marrero and Guillermo Torres Garcia.
Jorge Ortiz-Garica is currently a senior for the Bulldogs and is 11-8 overall and 6-5 in doubles competition this spring. He is a three-time All-NEC selection in singles and a two-time All-NEC honoree in doubles play.
A sophomore, Froggy is 7-12 overall and 4-8 in dual matches this year. He went 9-4 as a freshman last season.
The brothers have combined to go 13-14 overall in doubles competition this year. They are 6-10 in dual matches and 7-4 in tournament play.
They will face Hugo Dellien, Federico Zeballos, Boris Arias and Luis Diego Chavez Villalpando from Bolivia. Dellien is the 231st ranked singles player, while Zeballos is ranked 594th in the world. Dellien is 18-7 all-time in singles play in the Davis Cup and Zeballos has gone 14-11 in singles play.
The match between Puerto Rico and Bolivia is called a tie and ties are contested in a best-of-five rubbers format played over a three-day weekend in the World Group, and a two-day weekend in Zone Groups I and II under new trials in the competition for 2018. In the World Group, there are two singles on Friday, a doubles on Saturday and then the reverse singles on Sunday. See 'trials for 2018' (below) for the 2018 format of Zone Group I and II ties.
The tie is hosted by one of the competing nations. The host nation is decided depending on where the two competing teams played their most recent tie against each other, as long as the tie took place after 1970. Any ties before this date don't count towards the choice of ground.
If a nation had home advantage last time then it will be away next time, and vice versa. If the nations have never previously met, or if they faced each other at a neutral venue, then the choice of ground is decided by lot.
Puerto Rico began competing in the Davis Cup in 1992 and are 62-38 in 101 ties. They have already competed once in the Davis Cup, falling 5-0 to Mexico in the first round.
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The Davis Cup is the world's largest annual international team competition in sport, with 132 nations entered in 2018.
The best players in the world are competing in the Davis Cup this year. Rafael Nadal will compete for Spain, Marin Cilic for Croatia and John Isner, Sam Querrey and Jack Sock for the United States.
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