Thuell to Play for Bermuda in Davis Cup

Former UNC Asheville men's tennis player Nicholas Thuell has earned a spot on the Bermuda National Team and will be playing for Bermuda in Davis Cup competition that begins on April 22 in El Salvador.

Thuell made the squad last year as an alternate. He practiced with the team but did not play in a match. He was asked to try out again and once again made the team as an alternate. On Tuesday, Thuell was contacted by Bermuda head coach Steve Bean and asked if he could play.

The Davis Cup is the international tennis tournament, where countries are grouped together both by geographical region, and tennis standards. Spain is the defending Davis Cup champion.

Thuell and his teammates will meet in Miami on Saturday and then fly to El Salvador for a few days of training before competition begins.

Bermuda is in Group 4 of the Americas Zone. They are in a group with U.S. Virgin Islands, Aruba, Trinidad and Tobago and Panama. Each match consists of two singles matches and one doubles match, each worth one point each. The first country to two points wins the match. The two teams with the best record after the round-robin will be promoted to Group 3 of the Americas Zone in 2010.

Thuell was a four-year letterman for the UNC Asheville tennis program. He played both singles and doubles for the Bulldogs and was a member of the Big South All-Academic team for men's tennis his junior and senior year. He served as Asheville's team captain as a senior. Thuell graduated in May of 2008 with a degree in Economics.

He is currently working on his Masters degree in Applied Micro Economics at UNC Greensboro.