Cairns, Royal Sydney, seems as if Tennis Australia are choosing the smaller venues.

Surprised they didn't use a bigger facility in Sydney, but I suspect they didn't think Federer would be coming to Australia.

Cairns and other small venues that don't see major tennis are good choices for the lower ranked ties we've seen before this. But this is a World Group playoff. They didn't think he was coming to Sydney but it was about getting the match on grass to unsettle Stanislas "the Manislas" Wawrinka. The word is that Royal Sydney, Mildura and Royal Kings Park have the best grass surfaces in Australia through the winter. That's the official line from Tennis Australia BUT the thing is, we've transplanted grass courts onto Melbourne Park before. I suspect they feared empty seats.

But still, onto the tennis. I really wanted to tear that match referee a new one. It was like the Cricket World Cup final in Barbados.

Apparently Perth was very close to getting this Davis Cup Tie as well, lucky it didn't. Rained all weekend, particularly Sunday. I suspect they looked at weather conditions to choose Sydney.

I suspect when the new Indoor Stadium is available, they will have plenty of ties in Perth.

Will hopefully get to a Davis Cup Asian Tie next year.

Unless it has a grass court inside I suspect you are completely wrong. Otherwise they could have held it at the Tennis Centre at Homebush, Sydney Entertainment Centre, or Acer Arena.

But because of this fascination they went to the Royal Sydney Golf Club and made the fans sit on temporary stands. Way to build an audience Tennis Australia...

It came down to TA's opiion that Roger Federer may not attend and some poor attendances in recent David Cup ties in the Asia/Oceania group. If they knew RF was a definite at the time the tie was announced, TA would have made efforts to put a grasscourt in a bigger venue.

You forget we just spent over half a billion dollars on an arena with a retractable roof. Sure it's not going to be used for anything in the foreseeable future, but a Davis Cup tie.....well bugger me, there's something we can use it for!

Oh yeah, that's if they can get rid of the mould problem they've got.