The International Tennis Federation clarifies what its rulebook says in regards to a Davis Cup nation choosing a court surface and says there is no “approved” list of courts to draw on.
The Spanish Tennis Federation has appealed to ITF over the surface chosen by the United States for their July Davis Cup quarterfinal in Austin. The surface, called Indoor Hard Premiere, is not on the list of surfaces and brands contained in the ITF’s 2011 "Approved Tennis Balls, Classified Surfaces & Recognized Courts" manual, but the ITF says that the list is only produced as a guide for people who are considering building courts.
The only rules that seem to apply to court surface is the one that says "for all ties in the World Group and Zonal Group - the court surface must be of a type used in a Grand Slam tournament or in a minimum of three tournaments in the men's professional tour held in the year previous to the tie."
Indoor Hard Premiere is used in the tournament in San Jose, California, and the company that produces it in Baltimore also manufactures a similar or identical surface called Latex-ite, which may have used in non-U.S. ATP tournaments, and is listed as being used in 2011 Davis Cup ties between Sweden and Serbia, Sweden and Russia, the Ukraine and the Netherlands, among others. The surface also appears to have been used at the Pilot Pen tournament in New Haven. The company would not respond to TENNIS.com, citing the sensitivity of the matter.
Indoor Hard Premiere surface was also used in five U.S. Davis Cup home ties and two Fed Cup home ties since 2007, including in the U.S.’ defeat of Spain in Winston-Salem in the 2007 quarterfinals and the 2007 Davis Cup final.
The ITF’s decision on Spain’s appeal will be released on Thursday.—Matthew Cronin