So close, yet so far for Cook Islands tennis star Brett Baudinet who this week became the country’s first male tennis player to play in an International Tennis Federation Men’s Professional Tennis Event.

Baudinet and his doubles partner Colin Sinclair (Northern Marianas) missed out on their first ever world rankings by two points.

The Pacific Oceania Davis Cup Team members featured in the ITF M15 Futures event in Monastir, Tunisia in preparation for next week’s World Group II Davis Cup Tie against Estonia.

The Futures event was an opportunity for the Rarotonga based player to get his first ever world ranking.

The duo who earned wild card entry into the Futures tournament took on the eventual finalists, Olivier Rojas (Belgium) and Mathieu Scaglia (France), on Tuesday.

“We won the first set comfortably 6-2, then were neck and neck in the second with no break of serves and got to a tie-breaker, which they won by two points 5-7. Then in the third set tiebreaker, we lost by just two points 8-10,” Baudinet said.

“We were just two points away from a world ranking. It was so upsetting but then, our opponents have now won their next two matches comfortably and are in the finals tomorrow (today).

“In short, we could have made the finals instead. So I’m really proud of our result, even though we were just two points shy of a world ranking and most likely going all the way to the finals.”

Despite the loss, Baudinet made good use of his stay in Tunisia, rubbing shoulders with some of the sport’s top players.

“Being in Tunisia and surrounded by 100 plus top players, I utilised the week to train with my doubles partner Colin and several players. It has been a fantastic week and a great preparation for Davis Cup next week.”

They left Estonia yesterday to meet up with the full team and prepare throughout next week at the actual venue for the match against Estonia.

“We play Estonia next week on Friday, March 4 and Saturday, 5th of March.”

The Pacific Oceania Davis Cup Team comprise of Colin Sinclair (Northern Marianas), Clement Mainguy (Vanuatu), Matthew Stubbings (PNG), Brett Baudinet (Cook Islands), Matavao Fanguna (Tonga), Aymeric Mara – Captain (Vanuatu), Richard Breen- Manager (Fiji) and Julen Garcia Hierro – Physio (Spain).