By TERRY MADDAFORD
James Shortall is back in the New Zealand Davis Cup team after apparently agreeing on financial terms with the national association.
Non-playing captain Glenn Wilson yesterday named Shortall to join Dan Willman, Mark Nielsen and Alistair Hunt in the team to play India in their semifinal in Wellington
from April 5 to 7.
Shortall replaces Simon Rea, who has commitments to his University of Tennessee team at that time.
Now based in Wellington after playing at the University of Mississippi, Manawatu player Shortall and New Zealand Tennis were at odds over payments at the time of the last tie against Indonesia.
"For this tie, the financial arrangements have been agreed," said Wilson.
"I tell them [NZ Tennis] which players I want and they sort out the financial details.
"Yes, it was an issue for the tie against Indonesia."
Wilson is in Hamilton to watch his players in action at the Gallagher International ATP Challenger tournament.
The squad will train outdoors in Auckland next week before heading to Wellington on March 31.
Wilson said he was keeping an open mind on his line-up for what promises to be a difficult tie against India, who have Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi as their star players.
"With no player ranked in the top 100, we don't have an obvious first-choice singles player," he said.
"I will have a look at things over the next couple of weeks before making any decision.
"The selection will be made on form but I also have to take into account the game played by our opponents."
