Tennis: Nielsen will be sorely missed

Tennis New Zealand will name the Davis Cup team to play in Kazakhstan next month in the next couple of days.

New Zealand No 1 Mark Nielsen withdrew from the tie despite being eligible and available after returning a positive drugs test at the Australian Open in January.

Tennis NZ chief executive Don Turner yesterday rebuffed suggestions that they were happy to go to Kazakhstan without Nielsen as losing there would mean they would not have to find the $50,000-plus to host a tie here against [probably] Indonesia in September.

"That is quite an amazing suggestion," said Turner. "We want to do the best we can in Davis Cup. Given the situation, I have to be awfully careful what I say.

"He [Nielsen] has withdrawn. That is the position. We had to work through things. If the question is that without him our chances are diminished, the answer is a clear yes."

Turner agreed that until the result of the International Tennis Federation hearing in London in early May was known, there remained a chance that Nielsen, could be cleared.

"It was Mark's decision to withdraw from the tie and other tournaments," said Turner. "He did not feel comfortable about playing with this hanging over his head."

The news of the positive was relayed to Nielsen, who told TNZ.

"The ITF keeps things confidential until the final decision is handed down. That could have been some weeks after the May hearing. He could have continued playing until then," said Turner.

"Mark brought the matter to our attention. It is very hard to lose your No 1 player. It is very sad, very difficult, a tragedy."

Asked about suggestions that he had made the move to withdraw from the tie, Nielsen said: "I don't want to talk about. I'm not going to talk."

His lawyer Kit Toogood said that Nielsen had been selected in the team to play Kazakhstan but that team had not been announced.

"It is a case of what is best for New Zealand tennis," said Toogood, who expects to receive the evidence from the ITF today and will make a decision in the next 10 days on what action will be taken before the hearing in London.

Toogood also said that while Nielsen could play Davis Cup, any money or ATP points he gained from playing tournaments in the interim would be forfeited if a ban was imposed.

Non-playing captain James Greenhalgh has had to search far and wide for a replacement.

It is expected Dan King-Turner, Adam Thompson and Reuben Statham will be named. A fourth player who is almost certainly playing overseas will join them. Hopes that former Aucklander, now US-based, GD Jones, would join the team have been dashed.

Jones, who was unavailable for the last tie following an operation late last year, had indicated he was unlikely to be available for the tie as it clashed with the end-of-season tournaments on the US College circuit.

"GD said he was still not fully fit and would not be ready to play," Turner said.

* TNZ will also name its Fed Cup team for the round-robin tournament in Seoul next month in the next few days with Turner hinting there could be a surprise or two.