Aussies get away with fine for Davis Cup forfeiture

"The ITF's Davis Cup Committee decided Australia would not be suspended from the 2010 competition or relegated from Asia/Oceania Zone Group I," the International Tennis Federation said in a statement.

"Australia will lose choice of ground for their next home tie regardless of the opponent and will pay a fine of $10,000. Australia will also be liable for costs to both the ITF and to the All India Tennis Association to be determined at a later date."

Tennis Australia (TA) had asked the ITF to move the May 8-10 Asia/Oceania tie out of Chennai but their request was rejected. "It would be irresponsible of us to send our players into an area of such high risk. Davis Cup is very important to us but some things are more important than tennis," Tennis Australia president Geoff Pollard said last month.
Security for sports teams in the sub-continent has been questioned following the ambush of the Sri Lanka cricket team's bus in Lahore in March.

The Board of Control for Cricket in India moved the Indian Premier League IPL Twenty20 league to South Africa after the government said providing security would be a problem due to a clash of dates with the general election.

India also remains nervous after militants killed more than 150 people in a three-day attack in Mumbai in November.

The ITF had carried out its own security inspection in Chennai and had declared the city and venue, which also staged an ATP tournament in January, safe.

It is the second time the ITF has punished a country for breaching its rules. Last month the ITF banned the city of Malmo from hosting future Davis Cup ties for five years and fined Swedish tennis officials $25,000 after the host nation decided to stage a World Group tie against Israel behind closed doors.