The Davis Cup tie over the weekend between Lleyton Hewitt and Stanislas Warwinka was a tense classic that included a spray from the generally calm Pat Rafter over the issue of light.
While Rafter can scorn match referees over the lack of light, the source of the problem is much closer to home.
While I am not privy to the decision-making process at Tennis Australia, what on god’s earth were they thinking when it was decided that this tie would be played at the Royal Sydney Golf Club?
When I first read that the Davis Cup was at Royal Sydney, I thought that there had been a mistake in the article.
Why would Tennis Australia play the event at a golf club, when there are many great tennis venues across Australia?
It’s a golf club that is not suited to the needs of tennis players.
My second issue with the golf club venue was the lack of lights available for the matches. Surely, Tennis Australia, in selecting a venue, would want a tennis court that had lights in case matches ran into the night.
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.
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