11th April, 1999

BOSTON WILL BE NO TEA PARTY

There is only one negative to emerge from our 4-1 Davis Cup win over Zimbabwe in Harare last weekend and that's the venue for the quarter-final tie - Boston.

There's nothing wrong with Boston or the Longwood Circket Club, but there's no reason why Australia should be playing there this year.

As I indicated when the draw came out for this year, the players are annoyed the US has been given an extra home tie to help celebrate the centenary of the Davis Cup.

We travelled to Washington two years ago for a pretty rough semi-final and, under the rotational rules, we are due to host the July 16-18 quarter-final.

But the International Tennis Federation has decided the Americans should still have the privilege of another home tie beause the first-ever Davis Cup match was played 100 years ago this year in Boston between the US and Great Britain.

All of the players talked about it at dinner after we'd beaten Zimbabwe and none of us is happy with it. Tennis Australia has protested to the ITF arguing that it is Australia's turn to host the US.

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