91Èȱ¬

A giant bronze statue of Pinocchio stands, rather bizarrely, on one of the roundabouts here in Boras, about 40 minutes east of Gothenburg, and venue for this weekend's Fed Cup play-off between Britain and Sweden.

Apparently one of the illustrators who worked on the Disney film lived round the corner - although not in Boras. No matter. Stick a giant Pinocchio on a roundabout, the locals will hate it but some visiting sport journalist will mention it.

I'm told there's also a debate here about whether Boras is a town or a city. That's an easy one; it's a town - a ghost town.

Read the rest of this entry

The horror of Vilnius - one of the more infamous British tennis graveyards - still haunts those of us who were there. But memories of that snowbound weekend in the sports hall of doom are thankfully fading as Britain rebuilds its Davis Cup reputation.

From plumbing the depths of the competition in 2010 a nation with only three professional players, Britain has steadily climbed the rungs of respectability with five wins in a row.

This weekend the team faces Belgium in Glasgow with the winners guaranteed a world group play-off in September. Heady days indeed.

Central to Britain's resurgence, albeit through lowly international divisions, has been an established doubles partnership, Colin Fleming and Ross Hutchins, now regulars on the ATP World Tour and recent champions in Delray Beach.

Read the rest of this entry