Sports Technology

Australia's hopes of returning to the Davis Cup World Group have ended after Stanislas Wawrinka of Switzerland won the final game in the final, light interrupted, match of the tie.

Held over the weekend at Royal Sydney Golf Club, the final match was halted by bad light on Sunday afternoon - the venue not being equipped with lighting. The match was completed this morning when Wawrinka won his fifth set decider against Lleyton Hewitt. While Australian Caption Pat Rafter castigated match officials as the afternoon light failied, questions have been raised over Tennis Australia's selection of the venue.

While media reports focused on the 'exclusivity' of the courts of the Royal Sydney Golf Club's 18 court tennis facility, no mention of their suitability to host matches if they were affected by bad light seems to have been taken into account.

Online sports forum The Roar asked "in preparing an event like this, where weather becomes an issue and there is no time limit on matches, you need a venue that has lights to accommodate unexpected issues.

"This is where it gets even more confusing and the blunder becomes apparent.

"Tennis has a venue in Sydney called the Sydney Olympic Tennis Centre at Homebush where there are courts with lights.

"If Tennis Australia was looking to host the tie in Sydney, surely they should have looked at the most modern venue with the best facilities in the city.

"If the venue was double-booked, Sydney should not have hosted the tie.

"There are plenty of better venues than Royal Sydney Golf Club across Australia that could have been used.

"Memorial Drive in Adelaide, Pat Rafter Arena in Brisbane, Rod Laver/Hisense Arena in Melbourne and the Burswood Dome in Perth are venues that are light years ahead in being able to host Davis Cup ties.

"The bungled venue ruined, what was a fantastic tie over the weekend.

By forcing it to continue into Monday, the tension and atmosphere that made the tie gripping was destroyed.

"It also added more fatigue to the battle-weary tennis players who have endured a torrid season and still have big tournaments to compete in.

"While the match yesterday copped a mouthful from Rafter, he was only doing his job and correctly applied the rules. Rafter is right in calling for a change in the laws but the weekend's problems rest solely with his bosses at Tennis Australia for hosting a tournament at an ill-equipped venue.

"Rafter must scorn the board for their ill-judgement and tell them it needs to never happen again or it will again rob Australia."

For more information go to www.theroar.com.au/2011/09/20/tennis-australia-served-a-double-fault/

19th March 2010 - BRISBANE TO HOST DAVIS CUP TIE