1.00pm
Davis Cup squad member William Ward could face disciplinary action over his response to being left off the tennis court during New Zealand's defeat in Pakistan last week.
Tennis New Zealand chief executive Don Turner today confirmed an incident had occurred in the lead-up to the tie in Islamabad.
It arose after captain Bruce Derlin had indicated that New Zealand's two singles representatives on the first day would be No 1 Mark Nielsen and Simon Rea.
Another non-playing member, Lee Radovanovich, has said Ward became abusive and should have been sent home.
Turner said Ward disagreed with Derlin's selection, but "the question is how big it (the incident) was".
"He, Bruce and the team manager, Pat O'Rourke, had a meeting and he was clearly unhappy, but the matter was dealt with in the space of three or four hours," he told NZPA.
"At that point, William acknowledged that he was part of the team and from then on he conducted himself in a way that was positive and very supportive."
However, Turner added that the matter was not closed, and would be part of a review of the Davis Cup campaign.
That review would include a report to be tabled at a board meeting at the end of the month.
"If it is thought best that some sort of action needs to be taken, then that decision will be taken at that time," Turner said.
"We have to say that this is an unusual situation and we will have to look at it. Yes, there could be some consequence."
New Zealand lost the tie 3-2, with Nielsen winning both his singles.
Rea, who was No 2 within the squad based on world ranking, lost both his singles, while he and Nielsen went down in the doubles.
The result meant New Zealand dropped into Group 2 of the Asia/Oceania zone, and will host Kazakhstan in March.
Radovanovich said Ward, a junior, had "a very high opinion" of his abilities, but didn't realise that there was a big jump up to senior level.
"He was fairly abusive and we actually all thought he should be sent home, but they decided to keep him there in the end," Radovanovich told Newstalk ZB.
"It wasn't a positive thing for the team, but we sorted it out that day and pretty much went on with it."
- NZPA
Tennis: Ward could face action over Davis Cup dissent
AdvertisementAdvertise with NZME.