Tennis: At least we are playing at home

By Terry Maddaford

The home tie was the good news. The bad was having to play tennis superpower Spain in September's Davis Cup world group qualifier.

If, as expected, the Spanish head Down Under with current world No 2 Carlos Moya and No 9 Alex Corretja to lead their charge, it will be the highest-ranked team ever to play in New Zealand.

The Spaniarda have another six players currently ranked in the top 50 and 16 overall in the top 100.

Kiwi non-playing captain Jeff Simpson found some solace in having a home tie - but not a lot.

"All ties at this level are tough," said Simpson after learning New Zealand had missed out on having to play Britain, Sweden, Italy or the Netherlands in being drawn against Spain. "It will be very tough. The one small plus is in being able to play on a surface of our choice here and not away on clay.

"We have had teams like Australia, Switzerland and Yugoslavia here in the past but this is definitely the strongest we have had to face."

While the venue will not be known for a few days, it will be indoors and, Simpson plans, on a faster surface than that on which New Zealand beat South Korea in Christchurch last weekend.

"That was a new surface and deliberately slower than the Koreans would have wanted," said Simpson. "Against Spain we will want to speed it up."

Hamilton's Mystery Creek promises to be a front-runner in any decision on where the September 24-26 tie will be played. The WestpacTrust Stadium used for the Korean clash will be unavailable as the tie clashes with the World Netball Championships which will be played in the new venue, next to the Addington Raceway.

"We get few chances to see players of this ability," said Simpson. "It promises to be a big money-puller for New Zealand tennis so we must make the most of it. We could have up to 7000 spectators at Mystery Creek."

Other venues will be considered in Auckland and possibly Dunedin before a final decision.

Simpson planned to talk to Kiwi No 1 Brett Steven in Japan to confirm his availability.

"Brett has said he would be available for the tie," said Simpson. "I'm sure he will do everything in his power to get ready."

While the team to play Spain does not have to be named until 10 days before the tie, it is difficult to see Simpson going outside the players he had in Christchurch.

Steven, Mark Nielsen, Alistair Hunt, James Greenhalgh and Teo Susnak will be the front-runners again with only US-based James Shortall and Mark Thompson, who is playing in Europe, having even an outside chance of forcing their way into contention.

"We will be looking to have them all playing at the highest possible level. By May they should all be playing in Europe. Before they leave we will sit down with Brett and map out their programme."

In other qualifying ties, Britain - beaten by the United States - will be at home to South Africa; Sweden are away to Austria; Italy at home against Finland; and the Netherlands are away to Ecuador.