Ireland have prospect of facing Britain in Davis Cup

TENNIS NEWS:TENNIS IRELAND may have to look for a 5,000-seat venue if they beat Davis Cup first-round opponents Turkey next March 5th-7th. A win against Turkey in Dublin and a first-round win for Britain, who are in the same group, would throw the nations together for the first time in the Davis Cup since 1969.

That world number three Andy Murray may be a member of the British team has given Irish tennis the welcome headache of planning for a venue that could hold thousands of fans. Britain, who were relegated at the end of last season, play Lithuania on the same weekend.

While Fitzwilliam LTC is the likely venue for the match against Turkey, there is no other suitable outdoor arena in tennis that would cater for the attraction of Murray.

While Tennis Ireland can’t finally plan until the first-round results are known, they have already discussed the possibility of a purpose-built venue, and have not discounted taking the match outside of Dublin. The ITF stipulate it must be played outdoors.

Britain are seeded one in the group, while Ireland are seeded seven, and a meeting of the two would be the most exciting Davis Cup tie on home soil since the John McEnroe-led USA team played in the RDS back in 1983.

“This is probably the most attractive Davis Cup draw we have had in a number of years,” said Seán Sorensen, Davis Cup non-playing captain. “Turkey in March will be quite a challenge, but home advantage counts for a lot in Davis Cup and we hold this advantage for both the first- and second-round matches. If we get past Turkey and if Great Britain win their first-round match, then we face the mouth-watering prospect of playing Great Britain in Davis Cup in Ireland in July – we last played them in 1969.”

To add further spice to the possible meeting, the match against Britain is scheduled to take place from July 9th-11th. The 2010 Wimbledon Championships end on July 4th. It is not a remote possibility that Murray could arrive in Dublin as the first British champion since Fred Perry won Wimbledon in 1936, when he took just 40 minutes to beat German Baron Gottfried von Cramm 6-1, 6-1, 6-0.

“We would expect enormous interest in this match and given the scheduled dates we will have to stage it at an outdoor venue,” said Tennis Ireland chief executive Des Allen. “We have begun to consider a number of options, but we can’t really make the final decisions until we get over the Turkey hurdle.”