ISA TOWN, Bahrain - Junior Timothy Tep (Phnom Penh, Cambodia) represented Virginia Wesleyan University tennis on a global stage as he competed in the World Cup of Tennis, the Davis Cup in mid-October. The third Davis Cup appearance of his career.

The Cambodian team is composed of the top four players of the national team: Kenny Bun, Samneang Long, Timothy Tep, and Ponlok Khleang. The team captain is Rithivit Tep and they are coached by Braen Aneiros the Cambodian national coach. 2021 marked the ninth Davis Cup appearance for the Cambodian team. 

Cambodia was placed in Pool C of Group IV in the Asia/Oceania division. Other countries in pool C in addition to Cambodia included Iran, Kyrgyzstan, and Yemen. Competition was held this year in Isa Town, Bahrain.

The Davis Cup tournament followed a round-robin format typically with pools of four, up to five, teams. After teams go head to head against their draws, the top two teams from each pool faced off against each other to see who earns the automatic bid into the next year's Davis Cup. 

The Cambodian team as a whole won their first two matches defeating Yemen 3-0 to open the tournament (Oct. 18) and followed with a 2-1 win over Kyrgyzstan the following day, Oct. 19. Cambodia fell to Iran 3-0 on the 21st and concluded tournament action with a 2-1 loss to Saudi Arabia the champions from Pool A (Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, and Guam).

Tep appeared in three matches, a pair of doubles games and a singles match-up. He opened the tournament pairing up with Khleang in the doubles match against Yemen' Hussein/Sallam which the Cambodians won handily 6-1, 6-0, helping their team to a 3-0 win over Yemen. In the second round, Tep took on Kyrgyzstan's Mirdzhaliev in singles play but fell 6-2, 6-0. Despite the singles loss, Cambodia defeated Kyrgyzstan 2-1 to move on in the tournament. Tep's last match of the Davis Cup came in doubles action again pairing up with Khleang. The Cambodian duo faced off against Iran's pair of Badi/Yazdani and were defeated 6-2, 6-4. Cambodia ultimately fell 3-0 to Iran, who were the Pool C champions. 

"We are extremely proud of Tim and how he represented Cambodia in Davis Cup!," said Coach Toni Bickford.  "His international success speaks a lot about our program and our commitment to player development.  I want to thank Tim's teammates who dedicated extra hours to help with his on-court preparation.  I also want to express our gratitude to Virginia Wesleyan professors and academic staff who were extremely accommodative and made Tim's participation in this exceptional event possible."

TIMOTHY TEP DAVIS CUP PLAYER PROFILE