Aljaz Bedene will continue to be ineligible to play for Great Britain in the Davis Cup after his appeal was dismissed at a hearing in London.
A hearing in London decided not to overrule a principle set by the International Tennis Federation that players should not represent more than one country.
The decision to reject Bedene’s appeal is based on a rule that was introduced by the ITF after Bedene had applied for British citizenship, but it did not sway the hearing committee’s decision. Bedene had represented the country of his birth, Slovenia in three Davis Cup ties, with the last occurring in 2012 against Denmark. All three of his matches for Slovenia were dead rubbers.
Charles Hollander who was part of the decision-making process, expressed “greatest sympathy” for Bedene’s plight, asserting that “The ITF change in rules has come at precisely the wrong time for him.”
The new rule, introduced in 2015, that prohibits players from swapping nations in Davis Cup play was an attempt to prevent players from adopting a ‘flag of convenience’. Prior to the ruling there had been many cases where players had swapped nations in Davis Cup play.
Greg Rusedski was one such example, after he moved from representing Canada to Great Britain. He was followed by Dustin Brown, who now plays for Germany after originally playing for Jamaica. Alex Bogolomov Jr started his career as an American, but later switched nationalities to play Davis Cup for the country of his birth, Russia.
