“It was more uncomfortable and unreasonable conditions for what we’re used to,” Australian Davis Cup captain Patrick Rafter said of Uzbekistan. (Quinn Rooney/Getty Images)

The ITF fined the Australian Davis Cup team $10,000 for skipping the official dinner in Uzbekistan earlier this month to protest the unsanitary and unreasonable accommodations provided by the host country. The Aussies won the tie 3-1, but after the team experienced sewage issues, bed bugs and late-night noise throughout their stay in Uzbekistan, captain Patrick Rafter didn’t order his team to attend the dinner.

Rafter said he raised the complaints with ITF representatives but received little support.

“The ITF was there and I said, ‘This is crap.’ They didn’t want to listen and they fined us because the boys didn’t go to the dinner,” Rafter said.

“I didn’t want the boys to do what they didn’t want to.

“They (ITF) said, ‘You should have been here earlier,’ and I said we were preparing to get ready for the match (in Munich).

“So I played hardball with them. I’m going to try and get all the captains and players who want change and get the head guys off the (Davis Cup) committee.”

Novak Djokovic defeated Sam Querrey 7-5, 6-7 (4), 6-1, 6-0 on Sunday to give Serbia a 3-1 victory over the United States in the Davis Cup quarterfinals, but the triumph may have come at a costly price.

The No. 1 suffered an injury scare after he twisted his right ankle early in the match and fell to the ground in anguish. Djokovic continued with the help of some anti-inflammatories, secured the decisive, emotionally charged win and then broke down in tears after the match during an interview with Serbian press.

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New Zealand was awarded its Davis Cup Asia/Oceania Group II tie against Pakistan after a hole “an inch deep and half a foot wide” developed on the grass court surface, rendering the court unplayable. Though it was Pakistan’s turn to host the event, the tie was played at a neutral site in Myanmar due to security concerns. Under ITF rules, it is the host nation’s responsibility — even when the tie is played on neutral ground — to provide a playable match court. Since Pakistan was unable to so, it was defaulted.

According to Reuters, the venue hosting the tie, the Pun Hlaing Golf and Country Club, had only two grass courts, and the teams had been practicing on them all week.

“It’s a brave ask for two grass courts to support that all week,” Hunt said. “The court was definitely not up to scratch from day one.”

“From Myanmar’s point of view they did everything they could and have treated us very well… but I don’t think they really understood what was expected of a court for a Davis Cup match and it was a pretty tough ask for them to come up with it at short notice.”

John Isner lost his reverse singles match to Thomaz Bellucci, but the U.S. advanced. (Sam Greenwood/Getty Images)

It’s not often you hear players from the host nation complaining about visiting fans, but John Isner didn’t mince words when it came to the rowdy Brazil supporters who were in Jacksonville, Fla., for the Americans’ first-round Davis Cup tie against Brazil. As Tennis.com reports, after losing to Thomaz Bellucci in five sets Sunday, Isner believed the Brazil bench and their fans crossed a line.

“To be honest, I don’t appreciate their fans at all. I don’t think they’re too classy at all,” Isner told reporters. “Not only their actual fans but the guys on their bench are saying stuff, toss the ball up, double fault. I can hear it. It didn’t affect me, it’s just I don’t think there’s any room for that. I’m not going to sugarcoat this as well. I don’t appreciate their fans at all. I think they’re very rude.”

Brazilian captain Joao Zwetsch responded: “I didn’t see that John is not playing his best tennis here probably. Thomaz played really good today. I really didn’t see it could have anything involved in the result of the game, you know. Like we say in Brazil, ‘Cry is free.’ You can cry as much as you want. But Thomaz beat him playing tennis, that’s all.”

Brazilian doubles specialist Marcelo Melo, who along with Bruno Soares handed Mike and Bob Bryan a surprising loss Saturday, took to Twitter to defend their fans. Melo quickly deleted his tweets, but a writer from The New York Times captured the gist:

Last tweet ( twitter.com/marcelomelo83/…) from Marcelo Melo—@marcelomelo83 translated: "Isner should stop crying…This is not professional behavior"—
Ben Rothenberg (@BenRothenberg) February 04, 2013

Melo continues: "@Marcelomelo83: Our crowd behaved as it should, encouraging the team from beginning to end with respect." #DavisCup—
Ben Rothenberg (@BenRothenberg) February 04, 2013

Novak Djokovic blasted the Belgium court, then blasted away his foe in his only match. (Geert Vanden Wijngaert/AP)

The Report Card hands out grades for the week in tennis. Last week, Novak Djokovic followed up his Australian Open title by rolling in his Davis Cup match.

Novak Djokovic: A-minus. In a weekend when Spain couldn’t be bothered to field a proper team and Switzerland once again went Roger Federer-less and lost another close tie, you have to give Djokovic props for hopping on a plane Monday morning in Melbourne and jetting to Belgium to play a match on heavy indoor clay Friday. With Serbia’s No. 2, Janko Tipsarevic, skipping the tie because of a foot injury, Djokovic’s presence was necessary to ensure that the Serbs would progress to the quarterfinals. He dispatched Olivier Rochus 6-3, 6-2, 6-2 as the Serbs won the first three matches to clinch, and he sat out the reverse singles.

That said, while his forceful criticism of the court surface resulted in improvements by the time the tie began, I’m less sympathetic over his complaints about having to transition from hard courts to clay so quickly. That’s par for the course in Davis Cup. The home team isn’t going to roll out the red carpet for you.

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Given the ubiquitous nature of the “tweener” — it seems not a day goes by that an ATP player doesn’t attempt one — it takes a pretty spectacular one to make us sit up and take notice these days. So kudos to you, Lukas Rosol. I’m sitting up and taking notice.

Rosol, who got the nod to play the Czech Republic’s opening Davis Cup rubber after Radek Stepanek withdrew to have neck surgery, hit this fantastic sharp-angled “tweener” for a winner against Switzerland’s Stanislas Wawrinka. He had a good amount of time to set up, but to hit that angle was pretty special.

Unfortunately for Rosol and the defending champions, it wasn’t enough. Wawrinka, who looked like a man still riding the wave of confidence gained from his five-set effort against Novak Djokovic at the Australian Open, won 6-4, 6-3, 6-4. With Tomas Berdych defeating Henri Laaksonen in the second match, the teams are tied 1-1 heading into Saturday’s doubles.

Novak Djokovic lashed out over the quality of the clay court for Serbia’s Davis Cup tie at Belgium this weekend.

“I had only one practice and this is definitely the worst court that we ever played in our lives on,” the world No. 1 said Thursday. “And this is an extremely dangerous situation for all of us. I came here from Australia yesterday. I’m supposed to play my match tomorrow on totally different conditions. And I’m putting my own health and we are all putting our own health at stake here for the rest of the season. We tried to slide a few times, play a few points yesterday, our feet stayed half a meter underground.”

Djokovic later elaborated on his concerns in a Facebook post to his fans:

“We are both very careful and taking extra care about my body because the conditions for play are quite dangerous not only for me and my team, but also for the hosts. I am certain that clay court had to be better, although I do believe that people from organization did their best. Unfortunately, sometimes that is not enough and now we are all facing a very tough challenge ahead of us – how to avoid getting injured. Health should be everyones [sic] priority and I am sad that this weekend we will not be able to perform a good quality tennis for the people who looked forward to this tie and bought tickets.”

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John Isner is the top-ranked American man ahead of Sam Querrey. (Rob Griffith/AP)

John Isner may not be 100 percent when the U.S. opens its Davis Cup campaign against Brazil in Jacksonville, Fla., on Friday. Speaking to the Greensboro (N.C.) News-Record, Isner said the bone bruise in his right knee that forced him out of the Australian Open needs more time to heal.

“It’s something I felt a little in the offseason. I’ve had times in the past where some ache would nag me, but then go away. In hindsight, I should’ve been more cautious and not trained through it. But I didn’t do that. And it bothered me in Australia.”
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“It’s frustrating,” the Greensboro native said, “because it’s not a muscular problem you can rehab. It’s on the bone, so you just have to wait.

Right now, it’s a race against the clock. Isner, scheduled to play singles on Friday against Brazil’s No. 2, 141st-ranked Thiago Alvez, hopes to be ready in time.

“I can’t say if I’ll be 100 percent in three or four days,” Isner said. “I just don’t know. I’ll give it a try this week and see how it goes. I do know I won’t take any chances and risk the rest of the season. If I can play, I’ll play. If I can’t, I’ll wait.”

Novak Djokovic won’t have long to enjoy his Australian Open title as Davis Cup play begins Friday. (Dita Alangkara/AP)

Davis Cup

The first round of Davis Cup kicks off this weekend and, yes, the No. 1 player in the world and recently crowned Australian Open champion is in action. The draws take place Thursday and play begins Friday through the weekend. Here are the ties to watch:

• Spain vs. Canada (Vancouver, British Columbia): A depleted Spanish squad goes to Vancouver without five of its top six players, making this a winnable matchup for Milos Raonic and Co. Rafael Nadal, David Ferrer, Nicolas Almagro, Fernando Verdasco and Feliciano Lopez are skipping the tie, which means Spain will be led by No. 32 Marcel Granollers and Guillermo Garcia-Lopez in singles and Granollers and Marc Lopez in doubles. Those are two favorable singles matches for the 15th-ranked Raonic, especially on the quick indoor court in the Thunderbird Sports Arena, which means this could come down to the doubles. Expect the home crowd to get loud and rowdy. Tickets sold out in just 80 minutes.

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Radek Stepanek won the decisive rubber to lift the Czech Republic over Spain in the Davis Cup final. (Getty Images)

The Report Card hands out grades for the week in tennis. This week saw the Czech Republic defeat Spain for the Davis Cup crown.

Hopman Cup? Czech. Fed Cup? Czech. Davis Cup? Czech.

It’s been an incredible year for the Czech Republic, which has a storied tennis tradition dating to the days of Ivan Lendl and Martina Navratilova, as the nation has dominated the international team competitions in 2012. As a bevy of Czech legends watched, including Lendl and Jana Novotna, the two-man team of Tomas Berdych and Radek Stepanek brought home the Davis Cup title with a pure display of teamwork.

Radek Stepanek: A-plus. He’s not everyone’s cup of tea. You either love Stepanek’s flair for the dramatic or you think it’s unnecessary gamesmanship. His penchant for wearing shirts with lions on them is either endearing or a complete and utter eyesore. And you can find his game, which is built on an attacking style that looks to finish at the net, a breath of fresh air or a relic. But it’s unlikely you’ll find many fans who have no opinion of Stepanek. He loves the stage, the crowd and the occasion. And that’s why he’s now a national hero.

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