PARIS: Tunisia have been suspended from the Davis Cup for a year for preventing one of their players from competing in a match, the International Tennis Federation announced yesterday.
The ITF found the Tunisian Tennis Federation (TTF) to be in breach of their constitution when they ordered one of their players, Malek Jaziri, not to compete against Israeli player Amir Weintraub at the 2013 Tashkent Challenger in October.
The 29-year-old Jaziri, who is his country’s highest-ranked player at 215 in the world, had initially pulled out of the match in question citing a knee injury.
The ITF said that they were “not satisfied with the case put forward by the Tunisian Tennis Federation” and their board voted unanimously in favour of banning Tunisia from the 2014 Davis Cup, with the exception of a Tunisian board member who did not take part in the vote.
“There is no room for prejudice of any kind in sport or in society,” said ITF President Francesco Ricci Bitti.
“The ITF Board decided to send a strong message to the Tunisian Tennis Federation that this kind of action will not be tolerated by any of our members.” AFP
