Tennis: Tricky Kazakh Davis Cup countdown

It will hardly be Flushing Meadows or Wimbledon centre court for the New Zealand Davis Cup tennis team later today.

The team plays Kazakhstan in the opening singles rubbers of the Asia-Oceania Group two tie.

Veteran Alistair Hunt, who has returned after three years, missed out on the singles, but will play in the doubles tomorrow.

He says punters are not exactly clamouring for tickets, and it will hardly be a daunting environment with only two to three hundred fans expected to fill the makeshift stands.

Kazakhstan is hardly leaving the team raving about their travels, having already changed hotels twice.

Hunt is far from enamoured with his surroundings.

He says the hotel's not "the Ritz" and the courts are awkward to play, because they are so fast, being basically concrete with tennis court lines painted on.

In the singles, Dan King-Turner will play number one for New Zealand in Mark Nielsen's enforced absence while Adam Thompson is number two.

- NEWSTALK ZB