Nadal out of Davis Cup, weakening a wounded series

Anne-Marie Stark Even while playing in Miami, Rafa Nadal drops out of the Davis Cup tie v. the US.

In another serious blow to Davis Cup, Rafael Nadal pulled out of Spain's April 6-8 tie against the US in Winston-Salem, N.C. because of a lingering foot injury. No. 2 Nadal declined to play even though he's still in the Miami draw and just came off a title run at Indian Wells, his first crown since last June.

With top-ranked Roger Federer declining to play any ties during the first three quarters of the year and Nadal now deciding to skip what would have been a blockbuster tie against Andy Roddick and James Blake, Davis Cup is losing steam as a competition.

Croatian hero Ivan Ljubicic has said he's all but done playing, and 19 of the Top 20 men's players recently signed a document asking the ITF to move the competition to the weeks after the Slams, a very risky proposition for Davis Cup, considering how bad the July date has been for Fed Cup.

Spain's team will include David Ferrer, Feliciano Lopez, Tommy Robredo and Fernando Verdasco, a good but underwhelming group who will be substantial underdogs against Roddick, Blake and the Bryan Bros. However, David Nalbandian has signed on to play for Argentina against the Swedes and if that South American nation can score a win, the US will be hard pressed to travel to Buenos Aires in September and pull off a victory on clay.

The Sony Ericsson WTA Tour officially announced which tournaments won the bidding war for A- and B-plus level designations today and little will come as a surprise to TennisReporters.net readers, but there were a few noteworthy developments. The tour listed 20 tournaments as "premier" events, but there is a substantial discrepancy between the A- and B-plus level "National" tournaments.

The low-grade B-level tournaments weren't announced, but on the US side, Amelia Island will fall into that category.

Here's a clearer version as to which tournament will be played when and at what level in 2009. Some dates could be changed a bit.

• "A" 12-day tournaments: Mandatory for all players who qualify. There are currently two of these, Indian Wells and Miami, which will be played during March.
• "A" 9-day tournaments: Mandatory for all players. There are two of these - Beijing will be played the week of October 5 in 2009, and Madrid, a new event which will be played two weeks prior to Roland Garros.
• The season ending WTA Championships, which will be contested the week of Oct. 26, is also mandatory for the Top 8.
• "A" 7-day tournaments: These events get seven of the Top-10 players. There are five:
• Dubai, The week of Feb. 16
• Rome, The week of May 4
• Canada (Montreal/Toronto), The week of Aug. 10
• Cincinnati:  A new tournament the week of Aug. 17, which replaces San Diego
• Moscow:  The week of Oct 19.

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