Michael Venus. Photo / APN
Michael Venus has withdrawn from the Davis Cup team for next month's tie against Lebanon - instead electing to play two Challenger tournaments in Australia.
Hot on the heels of Rubin Statham's messy withdrawal from the squad last week, when he was outspoken in his criticism of Tennis New Zealand,
it is a bad look for the sport - but the governing body insists the two incidents are unrelated.
"There is no connection with what Rubin is doing and Mike stressed that to me," Tennis NZ CEO Steve Johns said. "He really wanted to play but in that week there are two Challenger tournaments in Australia which overlap the Davis Cup. He has got no (ATP) points to defend until April so he sees the opportunity to play Challengers close to home and back-to-back as a chance to win some points and give his career a kick-start for 2013."
Venus, 25, is currently ranked 514 after reaching a career high of 274 in July 2011.
"He told us he didn't want it to come across that he was pulling out in relation to the whole Rubin situation - he simply has looked at it and decided it is a great opportunity to kick-start his career in 2013 and give his ranking a good boost. That just tipped him over the line in deciding not to play Davis Cup."
