Spain Davis Cup team rebel over semi-final venue

Nadal was among eight Spanish players and captain Emilio Sanchez Vicario who signed an open letter denouncing Pedro Munoz’s dealings in choosing the host city for the September 19-21 matchup.

The players are upset that the Spanish federation appears to favour Madrid because of sponsorship money, despite concerns that the capital city’s high altitude could take away the team’s home-court advantage.

“We feel it is our obligation to make public our uneasiness and disagreement with the president of the RFET, Pedro Munoz, and his management in which he has continued to deceive us in the decisions taken since the beginning of his mandate,” the letter said, adding that Munoz has “deceived some, if not all, of the candidate cities into believing that they had a chance of holding the tie when, in all moments, they never really had a chance.”

Munoz said he had no plans to step down, and that he had done nothing wrong. “It’s not the first time nor last time that we will have disagreements,” Munoz said.

Madrid’s sudden place as the front-runner comes just about three months after the city’s tourist office signed up as a key sponsor with the Davis Cup through 2010. Madrid is also bidding to host the 2016 Olympics.