Those noted, reasoned voices in tennis championing a ground-breaking change in the format of the Davis Cup will have only had their case strengthened by recent occurences in Sweden and India, where political upheaval has caused untold damage to the championships's fabric.

First there was the decision of Malmo's authorities to close the doors on the World Group first round tie between Sweden and Israel with the players inside and the public left to listen to the sound of balls being struck rather than watch the drama unfold. The city was fearful of potential disturbances because of Israel's bombing campaign in Gaza and not surprisingly, the Swedes were defeated in dramatic circumstances and must now play a relegation play off which could lead to a damaging absence from the elite.

This weekend, the authorities in India and Australia have been at each other's throats. Chennai was scheduled to stage the play-off between the two nations but, because of fears about the safety of the players at the height of India's elections (and with the Mumbai bombings fresh in the memory), the Australians have forfeited the tie, which may well mark the end of Lleyton Hewitt's long and distinguished participation that has totalled 51 matches over ten years including title victories in 1999 and 2003. They obviously made the decision with a very heavy heart.

All of this is a terrible shame for an event that has a treasured place in tennis but is increasingly troubled by the non-participation of its star players and is now being used as a tool for political grievances. The International Tennis Federation, (ITF) who are responsible for the running of the competition, say that they 'regret and respectfully disagree' with Tennis Australia's decision but, apart from a financial penalty, stamping their feet in annoyance is about all that they can do. Geoff Pollard, the president of TA, happens to be a long-standing member of the ITF Board of Directors, so is implicitly compromised.

Pollard, very decent man that he is, will have been terribly hurt by comments from Anil Khanna, the general secretary of the All India Tennis Association, who has talked of the 'arrogance and highly irresponsible actions' of the Australian authorities. "Despite the ITF security team giving an excellent report that India is safe for the Aussie players, they have pulled out." In a letter sent to AITA, Pollard had cited "high security risk during Indian election" as the reason for his team staying at home.

"We asked for the tie to be moved because we have major security concerns for players, particularly during [the Indian] election," Pollard wrote. "The ITF decision has left us with no other option but not to send the team. It would be irresponsible of us to send our players into an area of such risk." Khanna was not amused and said TA's decision might have been influenced by the players who do not want to come to India, something that particularly incensed Hewitt who has always gone the extra mile for his nation.

"We are extremely disappointed with their decision," Khanna said. "The reasons cited for pulling out of the tie reflect their ignorance. They are creating a situation solely out of their mind and not based on facts. We will intimate our sentiments to ITF in writing," he said. "We had a very peaceful [general] election. Even if incidents have occurred, they have nothing to do with the Davis Cup tie.

"Australia is also a member of ITF Board of Directors. They should have acted responsibly. They had done like this earlier also by not sending their team in Indonesia in a junior event. I hope they would act responsibly in future and learn lessons," he added.

These quotes will have caused deep annoyance in Australia and Mr Khanna had hardly endeared himself to the prospective visitors when he said that he believed Hewitt would not play in the tie had it been staged because it would damage his preparation for the French Open. The response from Hewitt's manager, David Drysdale, was swift. "If he looked before he spoke, Mr Khanna would see that Lleyton has always placed playing for his country ahead of his own individual tournament play. Lleyton had been committed to playing this tie since it was announced and certainly had not placed any claycourt plans ahead of his participation."

These splits between supposed friends leave the Davis Cup badly bruised. There are those in tennis who have campaigned quietly for years for a change in its format - preferring a one-off, annual, or twice yearly competition based on the football's World Cup - rather than the confusing year-long event that constantly requires explanation and re-affirmation. Whatever the ITF may say in defence of the status quo and the home-and-away precepts upon which the tournament is grounded - and they have endured - they should not continually cut off any reasoned discussion with those whose wish is to enhance the event, not destroy it.

Maybe it is time for those proposals to be given a wider airing and for debate to be joined in deciding exactly where the Davis Cup should go from here.

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