The Croatian tennis association has been sanctioned and fined by the International Tennis association for having an overly fast court. The incident happened during the Davis Cup match that Croatia played against Brazil and it was a great match. But then the ITF realized that there was something wrong with the court and went back to do inspections of the court. The Croatian Tennis Association (DTS) claims that it’s not their fault, as the ITF inspected the court too late to fix it. The amount of the fine has not yet been disclosed, and the Brazilians want the system to be rethought so that they can regain their spot in the tournament. But ITF isn’t going to do that.

The Davis Cup matches in Malmö, Sweden was one of the more controversial ones of this season. Why? Sweden was playing against Israel in the competition and there were lots of European activists who dislike Israel. They tried to make a much bigger diversion from the tournament than they ended up with, because the police kept them at bay. But it seems like most people got the chance to make the statement they wanted to make and they could also  play the tournament properly. Israel won 3-2.

Roger Federer is back to being the top performer in the tennis world after recently suffering a victory drought. In Tuesday’s match against his main rival Guillermo Canas, he scored an easy 6-3, 6-3 to advance to the second leg of the Rome Masters. Earlier on, a relieved Federer revealed that he was glad to be back on track, and that the past two months was tough on him and his game play.

On related news, another tennis favorite Andy Roddick managed to subdue his arch nemesis Mardy Fish with the score 6-1, 6-4 in the All-American matchup. To note, this was his second match on a clay court, after beating Jurgen Meizer last February during the Davis Cup matches.

The Australian tennis sensation and number one player Lleyton Hewitt has consented to lead the team for their tie against Thailand in Townsville, a north Queensland city, in the month of April. Lleyton Hewitt will be playing his 26th Davis Cup match for Australia in April and this is the Australian team’s second round group one qualifying match in the Asia/Oceanic Zone. It was revealed by tennis Australia that Hewitt, Peter Luczak, Paul Hanley and Chris Guccione will represent Australia for the tie against Thailand. The first Davis Cup match that Hewitt played for Australia was way back in 1999 in Boston, U.S.A, where he defeated Todd Martin in four sets.

Australia is the strong favorite to win this second round group tie and had defeated Taiwan 4-1 in their first Asia /Oceanic qualifying tie. If Australia comes out as winners in this tie that is to be held on April 11-13, then they will step into the World group’s playoff stage to be held in September. Australian captain John Fitzgerald said that the team for the tie against Thailand was picked by keeping the court conditions in mind. The tie against Thailand is to be played indoors and the court will be having high bounce, but will be slightly on the slower side.

Ana Ivanovic brought Venus Williams’ Australian Open to a juddering halt Wednesday.She continues her comeback after a dive in the rankings.It was a sorry end for Williams.With her sister Serena it spelt the end of the tournament for the Williams’ clan.Ivanovic overcame the American eighth seed in a ferociously-contested 7-6 (7/3), 6-4 thriller. Williams played with her left thigh heavily strapped, but gave credit to her opponent. And she defiantly vowed to bounce back.Ivanovic will play ninth seed Hantuchova, ensuring at least one player in the final on Saturday will be contesting their first Australian decider.

Third seed Novak Djokovic ended the hopes of home favourite Lleyton Hewitt at the Australian Open on Monday.The Serbian recovered from a nervy start to clinch victory in two hours, 26 minutes and set up a last-eight clash with fifth seed David Ferrer of Spain.Lleyton was very tired from the Baghdatis match a couple of nights ago.The Australian 19th seed’s previous match had ended at 4.33am on Sunday morning but he showed no signs of fatigue as he broke to lead 4-2 in the first set, only for Djokovic to hit back and win it.Hewitt, in his 12th Australian Open, gave himself hope when he broke early in the second set but Djokovic struck back to win it and he stormed into a 5-2 lead in the third.

 Sania Mirza caught once again in a controversy over the Indian flag. She is so upset that she is considering about her future. Sania has tried to maintain her composure and avoided talking on the issue, her manager and mentor Mahesh Bhupathi said: “She is very upset, it is a major issue for her.”

Steve Bierley has selected most successful tennis personalities of 2007. Let’s see who is in the list.

1)      Roger Federer – with his three slam titles and first ever victory over Nadal.

2)      Fabrice Santoro from France – who showed excellent tennis and proved that modern tennis needs not be all biff and bash.

3)      Serena and Venus Williams – with their capable winning slam titles.

4)      Andy Roddick – who led the US to their first Davis Cup victory since 1995.

5)      Marion Bartoli – French Wimbledon finalist.

6)      Richard Gasquet – who reached his first slam semi-final at Wimbledon

It is the first time that the United States wins its Davis Cup since 1995 with a doubles victory over defending champion Russia on Saturday. Leading 2-0 in the best-of-5 final, the Americans’ powerful players Bob and Mike Bryan beat Nikolay Davydenko and Igor Andreev 7-6 (7-4), 6-4, 6-2.

Murray signaled his wish to employ a rotating squad of tennis experts after his split with Brad Gilbert. Britain’s No. 1 confirmed former Davis Cup player and fellow Maclagan would work with him in Florida for a 3-week period, which could be extended in case it turns out to be successful. Andy Murray insists his split with coach Brad Gilbert was not down to a clash of personalities. Yet he is determined to avoid any conflict in the new set-up.