The opening day of the Davis Cup tie between Spain and Serbia in Benidorm have been postponed due to damage of one of the stands caused by the high winds yesterday.

According to Pedro Hernández, press secretary for the Real Federación Española de Tenis, the main umpire at the competition decided to postpone Friday's matches in order to see whether the workers can repair the damage on the grandstands in time for tommorrow's matches.

"As a result of the inclement weather that has put practically the whole country on alert, and especially because of the high winds that have damaged one of the stands, it has been decided to postpone Friday's matches," he explained.


"It is damage that can be repaired," he continued, "but the top of one of the stands has been affected by the winds and safety is out priority." "Repair work cannot be done until the wind drops, which is forecast to be at about 4pm today," he added.

Pedro Hernández said that the technicians had not been able to carry out a close inspection of the damaged stand because of the high winds, but assured the media that they had the resources and manpower available to get the damage repaired in time for tomorrow's matches, "although we will need between eight and nine hours to do the repairs".

After last night's meeting with the Mayor of Benidorm, Manuel Pérez Feroll, members of the Real Federación Española de Tenis and the event organisers, the main umpire, Soren Friemel, decided to postpone today's matches in order to guarantee absolute safety for the spectators.

A press conference will be at 11am today where the event's organising committee and the technicians responsible for the repair work to the stand, will explain the situation and the measures that they plan to take.

(photo/sport.ya)

Davis Cup: Spain - Serbia day one matches postponed due to high winds