WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — New Zealand has asked the International Tennis Federation to move its upcoming Davis Cup match against Pakistan to New Zealand or a neutral venue.

Pakistan and New Zealand have been drawn to meet in an Asia-Oceania Group II semifinal in Pakistan from July 9 to 11 but New Zealand has contacted the ITF to express security concerns, Tennis New Zealand operations manager Tracy Hall said Monday.

“We spoke to the ITF last December when the draw came out and they said they would not review the situation until both Pakistan and New Zealand got through the first round,” Hall told the New Zealand Press Association. “As of today we have e-mailed the ITF asking about the process and what we need to do to have it reviewed.”

Hall said the ITF had moved the Pakistan vs. Hong Kong first-round match to Hong Kong “because it was too dangerous” but might be less inclined to switch venues for a semifinal match.

“Player safety is a massive concern for the ITF in regards to Pakistan,” Hall said. “But then again, this will be a semifinal match.

“Against Hong Kong, Pakistan probably thought they would beat them away whereas New Zealand are a different story.”

Pakistan has been a virtual a “no go zone” for foreign sporting teams since gunmen attacked the Sri Lankan test cricket team’s bus at Lahore in March last year. Several Sri Lanka players were injured and six policemen were killed in the attack.

Pakistan subsequently lost its status as co-host for the 2011 World Cup of cricket and was forced to organize its “home” cricket series against Australia and New Zealand in the United Arab Emirates.

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ST. PETERSBURG, Florida (AP) — The WTA Tour and Sony Ericsson reached a contract extension that continues their relationship through the end of 2012 but drops the mobile phone company as the title sponsor of the women’s tennis tour.

In 2005, Sony Ericsson became the global title sponsor for the WTA Tour under a six-year, $88 million deal due to expire at the end of 2010. Now the circuit’s name will just be “WTA Tour.”

“It’s a non-title deal, but they remain the tour’s exclusive lead, global partner. No one will come in at a higher level than Sony Ericsson. That’s our commitment to them,” WTA chairman and CEO Stacey Allaster (pictured) said in a telephone interview Sunday.

“Sony Ericsson has been one of the best sponsors in the history of women’s tennis — and tennis in general,” she added. “This new agreement provides our organization and our members with financial stability, which has been a priority as we work through this ever-challenging global economy.”

Sony Ericsson also no longer will have the title rights for the tour’s season-ending championships. While Allaster said she will not seek a replacement title sponsor for the tour itself, she will “get into the market very quickly for a partner” for those championships.

Financial terms of the extension were not announced, but Allaster said the “average net profit” is “not too dissimilar” from the prior deal.

“There’s no question it’s a different period of time. The deal has been restructured,” she said, then continued: “It’s a very good financial deal for the WTA Tour. What we get out of it is financial stability in ‘11 and ‘12.”

SportsBusinessJournal.com reported that the new agreement creates a nearly three-year, $27 million sponsorship contract.

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For American tennis, this is one of those moments you dread and look forward to at the same time. You can’t look, but you have to.

The inevitable is arriving.

You never like to lose your best player, but for the U.S. Davis Cup team, it was time. The U.S. will play Serbia starting Friday without Andy Roddick.

John Isner and Sam Querrey are taking over for Roddick and for James Blake, who have led the team for nearly a decade.

So we get a first good look at the future. This could be a sign of how low American tennis has fallen. To be honest, I don’t see superstardom in the future for either Isner and Querrey, and don’t predict a lot for this weekend. But no one knows for sure.

To pick a cliché, this isn’t the passing of the torch yet, as Roddick’s prime isn’t quite done.

Instead, it is the baby birds being kicked from the nest.

And it’s time. Roddick’s and Blake’s bodies are starting to break down, and U.S. tennis needs to see if it can fly in the future.

Or at least, who will fly.

“It’s fun to have young guys,” U.S. doubles player Mike Bryan, partners with brother Bob, said. “You can see that they’re really excited.”

Another word for that excitement is probably “panic.”

It’s funny, because tennis has already seen Isner and Querrey. Isner is ranked 20th and Querrey 22nd. In fact, Isner is the only American to reach the second week of the past two majors, the Australian and U.S. Opens.

So they aren’t exactly emerging this weekend from nowhere. But the Davis Cup is different. They can’t blend into a tournament, but instead will stand there alone, responsible to someone else, playing for the flag.

Isner called it an honor.

I would say that the measuring stick was never fair for Roddick. But why not?

He was measured against Pete Sampras, Andre Agassi, Jim Courier and maybe even Michael Chang.

Think about this: Roddick and Blake have combined to win the same number of majors as Chang:

One.

But that generation had the burden of being measured against John McEnroe and Jimmy Connors. Every generation is measured against the past. And while tennis has become more of a world game now, American sports fans will never see that as more than an excuse.

Roddick, and to a lesser extent Blake, have taken this horrible era of U.S. men’s tennis and provided at least some success, hidden the lack of depth some. But between them, they had only Roddick’s brief brush with true greatness, a U.S. Open title and No. 1 ranking. The game evolved, and there were Roddick and Blake able only to blast away.

Well, Isner and Querrey aren’t anywhere near greatness, and haven’t provided enough evidence to say they’ll ever get there.

That’s the scary part, putting U.S. tennis in such unproven hands. But it’s also exciting, the kind of self-test every tennis player wants.

This seems like a fresh new moment for American tennis, certainly a big moment.

“I don’t think so,” Isner said. “Andy’s still the highest-ranked guy, and I don’t think Andy envisions himself losing that spot. It’s up to the rest of the guys to try to catch up to him.”

That is true. Roddick is still ranked No. 8, and at 27 has a couple years left to make another run or two at a major. Blake is fading far faster than he needs to be, honestly.

Both stepped away from the Davis Cup as a means of preserving their bodies for the tour.

You never really know how far a player is going to go until he has been put into these situations, and has to fight his way out. Isner and Querrey will both face No. 2 Novak Djokovic on a slow clay surface that favors him, in front of his loud, nationalistic crowd.

Odds are, he will crush both of them. In fact, it’s going to be tough for either to beat Viktor Troicki, too. (Count on the Bryan brothers to win their doubles match).

But this is the challenge, the only way you find things out in tennis.

Tennis doesn’t have many good predictors. Top juniors don’t necessarily become top pros. A few years ago, Donald Young was the next sure thing for American tennis, and now he’s having a hard time staying in the top 150.

Isner has never played on the Davis Cup team before, and Querrey has just once. Now, the team is theirs, no matter how much everyone tries to comfort them by saying that it belongs to the Bryans.

Isner is 6-foot-9, and crushes his serve. He has developed a good forehand and decent net play. He won his first tournament this year.

But the game has been moving toward tall players, such as 6-6 Juan Martin del Potro. And the up-and-coming tall guys move like slick small forwards in basketball while Isner is fighting to move better than the old lumbering center.

Querrey, 6-foot-6, who beat Isner in the Memphis final last month, is more athletic and has more of the fine points of the game. But he hasn’t shown the fire yet.

If he’s going to reach the top 10, top five, he’s going to have to find it inside.

This is exactly what this weekend is for.

Time to start sorting some of this out. So cover your eyes, U.S. tennis fans, but I know you’ll be peaking through your fingers.

E-mail me at gregcouch09@aol.com

BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — The Davis Cup run for the United States is over in the first round.

Novak Djokovic withstood 24 aces and outlasted John Isner 7-5, 3-6, 6-3, 6-7(6), 6-4 on Sunday, giving Serbia a clinching 3-1 lead against an American team looking for its 33rd Davis Cup title.

It’s the first time since 2005 the Americans were eliminated in the first round, while Serbia advances for the first time in the World Group and next plays bitter Balkan rival Croatia in the quarterfinals.

Djokovic, ranked No. 2, needed 4 hours and 16 minutes to outlast the 20th-ranked Isner, who was making his Davis Cup debut. The U.S. team played without both Andy Roddick and James Blake for the first time since 2000.

“Isner fought like crazy, and his serve was unbelievable,” Djokovic said of the 6-foot-9 American. “His serves are coming like from the fourth floor, and I had no idea where they would go.”

Struggling to contain Isner’s booming serve, Djokovic smashed his racket in the second set and received a ball violation penalty in the fourth set tiebreaker. The Serb then wasted three match points while leading 5-3 in the fifth set before converting his sixth match point after Isner netted a forehand.

“I knew I had to play my best tennis to have a chance against Djokovic,” Isner said. “He returns the serve real well, and my hat is off to him for the victory.”

“I double-faulted on two important break points and that’s what probably cost me the match,” Isner said. “Four hours is a lot of tennis, and I’m proud how I played.”

Viktor Troicki defeated Isner in the opening singles Friday and Djokovic beat Sam Querrey to give Serbia a 2-0 lead. Isner and Bob Bryan pulled one back for the U.S. by defeating Nenad Zimonjic and Janko Tipsarevic in Saturday’s doubles.

Copyright 2009 The Associated Press. The information contained in the AP news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press. Active hyperlinks have been inserted by AOL.

As Sam Querrey gets set to lead the U.S. Davis Cup squad into action against Serbia on Friday, there are many unanswered questions floating around. How will the team fare without the likes of Andy Roddick and James Blake? Can 6-foot-9 John Isner step up to help fill their shoes in his Davis Cup debut?

One question most people probably aren’t asking, however, is: what room in Querrey’s California home gets the least use? Well, thanks to ATP World Tour Uncovered, now we know.

The ATP visited him in his Santa Monica home to get the grand tour and delve a little deeper into the 22-year-old’s off-court lifestyle (including a collection most wouldn’t expect). We find out about his career goals, what area of his game needs some work, and the story behind “Sam’s Samurai,” his traveling (and sometimes shirtless) fan-base.

Check out the video to find out more.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Novak Djokovic successfully defended his Dubai Championships title on Sunday, beating Mikhail Youzhny of Russia 7-5, 5-7, 6-3 in a rain-delayed final.

Leading 7-5, 2-0 before rain suspended play on Saturday, the second-seeded Serb won his 17th career title in a match lasting 3 hours, 21 minutes at the Aviation Club. There were seven breaks of serve in Sunday’s 19 games.

Roger Federer is the only other player to win the Dubai title in successive years, winning three straight from 2003-05.

Djokovic was erratic on serve, winning 71 percent of points on first serve while also making 12 double faults.

“Honestly, I did not have the best tournament,” Djokovic said. “I struggled for the most part and the only day I felt comfortable was yesterday, leading the first set and 2-0 when the rain came in. And when I came out today, I struggled again and Mikhail started playing really well.”

Djokovic led 3-0 in the third set but Youzhny won the next three games and had two breakpoint chances to lead 4-3.

“I thought the key point was keeping my serve when we were 3-3 in the third set,” Djokovic said.

Youzhny agreed that the seventh game was the turning point of the match.

“If I won that game, nobody knows how the match would have finished,” he said.

Youzhny rallied from 2-0 down in the second set, taking it into a decider after breaking in the ninth and 11th games.

“Before the tournament, if you say you’ll play the final you say it is a good result,” Youzhny said. “But now, straight after the final, when you have some chances, you do get disappointed.”

Djokovic collected $383,000 and 500 ranking points, while Youzhny picked up nearly $183,000 and 300 points.

Copyright 2009 The Associated Press. The information contained in the AP news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press. Active hyperlinks have been inserted by AOL.

NEW YORK — From the moment she stepped on the court at Madison Square Garden, the night belonged to Venus Williams. The Venus effect began hours before her victories over Svetlana Kuznetsova and Kim Clijsters to win the 2010 BNP Paribas Showdown on Monday night.

Before the doors opened to the general public, the winner of seven Grand Slam titles visited with more than 400 young players from the New York Junior Tennis League who were guests of BNP Paribas. The children stood, waved, cheered boisterously and flashed a wide assortment of camera phones.

Then it was on to the not-so-serious business of capturing the Billie Jean King Cup as the winner of an exhibition round-robin that also featured Ana Ivanovic.

With the New York crowd of 11,702 almost unanimously on her side, Williams beat Kuznetsova 6-4 in her 35-minute opening match and Clijsters 6-4, 3-6, 7-5 in the final. For her efforts, Williams earned a check for $400,000 and cemented her status as a New York favorite.

“I just love playing here,” said Williams. “The energy of the city, the passion of the crowd for tennis. It’s easy to be motivated to play in Madison Square Garden.”

Kuznetsova, the 2009 French Open champion, acknowledged the Davis Cup atmosphere behind Williams.

“I felt like a basketball player more than a tennis player,” Kuznetsova said without complaint. “The crowd was definitely on her side. I could feel it. It was loud, but it was great.”

Just 48 hours before playing the Garden, Williams won the Mexican Open, a clay court championship in Acapulco. The previous week, she was the victor of a hard court tournament in Dubai. On Monday in New York, with both of her thighs wrapped, Williams dug deep after trailing in the third set, 4-2. “That’s the thing with Venus,” said Kuznetsova. “She has all the big match experience that helps her win everywhere. Tonight, she won all of the big points.”

Said Clijsters: “Venus is such a tough opponent. You think about all the matches she has just played, all the titles she has won and all the flights she’s been on recently, you have to admire her.”

NOTES: In the first semifinal, Clijsters defeated Ivanovic, 7-6 (2). Clijsters, who won the 2009 U.S. Open after a two-year hiatus from the tour, came back from 5-3 to win. Ivanovic, who held the No. 1 ranking briefly in 2008 after winning the French Open, has played poorly for over a year and seen her ranking nose-dive to 29th. The current Sports Illustrated swimsuit model was a substitute for the injured 2010 Australian champion, Serena Williams.

Billie Jean King, recovering from double knee replacement surgery, was unable to attend the event. In a statement, the Tennis Hall of Famer and pioneer said, “I plan on being back on the tennis court in the very near future.”

Prior to the Williams-Clijsters final, the newest inductees of the Tennis Hall of Fame were introduced. A pair of championship double teams highlight the class of 2010: Todd Woodbridge and Mark Woodforde, and Gigi Fernandez and Natasha Zvereva. Also honored were 12-time Grand Slam champion Owen Davidson, wheelchair tennis pioneer Brad Parks and British Lawn Tennis Association chairman Derek Hardwick.

SANTIAGO, Chile (AP) — The Davis Cup matches between Chile and Israel in Coquimbo have been delayed for a day because of the earthquake, and will start on Saturday and finish on Monday.

The International Tennis Federation announced the decision on Wednesday, four days after an earthquake and tsunami killed about 800 people in Chile.

The site for the World Group first-round tie, Enjoy Tennis Center, was unaffected and the local airport was open, the ITF said, but transportation issues had delayed the arrival of players and officials.

The ITF has asked for a minute of silence at the start of all eight World Group ties this week.

Copyright 2009 The Associated Press. The information contained in the AP news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press. Active hyperlinks have been inserted by AOL.

NEW YORK — Raw talent on the tennis court doesn’t always translate to the virtual world, as was evidenced by the Kim Clijsters-Svetlana Kuznetsova Wii Racquet Sports Championship on Sunday.

The top-20 players took Madison Square Garden’s center court in “The Match Before the Match” — a prelude to Monday’s BNP Paribas Showdown for the Billie Jean King Cup — for a riveting match of Wii Tennis on the 185″ Gardenvision screen.

Though only a friendly exhibition, it didn’t take long for controversy to rear its head. In the first game of the match, an unauthorized timeout (more like an accidental game pause) gave Clijsters a free point that helped her turn the game around to hold serve. With the pressure building, this would swing momentum to Clijsters’ corner and prove too much for Kuznetsova.

Kuznetsova, on her first trip to MSG, had never played Wii before, though that wouldn’t prevent her from hitting a few stellar shots to make Clijsters really work for the Wii Racquet Sports Championship. In the end though, Clijsters’ athleticism and powerful serve forced Kuznetsova to go on the defensive. Unable to attack, Kuznetsova lost the best of three series 2-1.

OK, so athleticism has little to do with it and there isn’t really pressure, but this was a silly way for the players who are usually pushed so hard to compete and are so focused on winning to loosen up and simply have some fun.

That doesn’t mean it wasn’t competitive. Both players now have new goals for 2010. Clijsters and Kuznetsova both said they will begin an extensive training regiment on the Wii to improve their skills for the rematch.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Venus Williams successfully defended her Dubai Championships title on Saturday, beating Victoria Azarenka of Belarus 6-3, 7-5 in the final.

Williams broke Azarenka a third time at 5-5 in the second set and served out for her 42nd singles title on the WTA Tour.

Unlike last year, Williams didn’t lose a set, and in the final she lost her serve only once to Azarenka, ranked No. 6, one spot behind Williams.

The American served well, hitting seven aces and winning 80 percent of her first serves.

A break for 4-2 sealed the first set for Williams, who’d beaten Azarenka at the Beijing Olympics before the Belarus star became a top-10 player.

Azarenka, looking for her fourth title in less than 12 months, broke Williams to even the second set at 3-3, but Williams got her back at the end.

“It was definitely very competitive,” Williams said. “I expected her to come out and play very well. I respect her game. Just the effort that she gives it. Even though I was leading in the second set, she just never gave up. She played really well and I am obviously happy to close the tournament out.”

Azarenka was looking for her fourth title in less than 12 months.

“It was hard,” she said. “Venus came off with some big shots. Just, you know, a little bit of bad luck on a few balls. But I’m proud of what I did today.”

Though the 29-year-old Williams is nine years older Azarenka, she said age made no difference.

“Obviously, I have an experience advantage over most of the players I play. But I just don’t think of it the same way as you (reporters),” she said.

“You guys are on the sidelines looking at the stats, looking at the numbers. I’m out there preparing my game. I’m thinking about how am I going to execute my serve. If I’m making this mistake, how do I correct it? So, I’m not thinking about anyone’s age.”

Copyright 2009 The Associated Press. The information contained in the AP news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press. Active hyperlinks have been inserted by AOL.