Tennis News: Following the relegation of the Irish Davis Cup men's team and the Federation Cup women's team to Group Three of their respective competitions this year, Owen Casey has resigned as Ireland's Davis Cup non-playing captain and has been replaced by Gary Cahill as Federation Cup captain.

Casey held the Federation Cup captaincy since 2002 and had been Davis Cup captain since 2003. This year both teams tumbled down the divisions, in part due to the non-availability of players because of injury and because several were out on the professional tour. "These changes should be seen in the context of the unprecedented relegation of both the mens and ladies teams to Group Three of their respective competitions in 2006," Tennis Ireland said yesterday.

The directors of Tennis Ireland initiated a review of the international teams' performances this autumn. The review involved a series of consultations with current and former players, leading coaches and non-playing captain Casey. The outcome of the review prompted a decision by Tennis Ireland to, (a) appoint separate captains to the Davis and Federation Cup teams in the future; (b) confirm Owen Casey as Davis Cup captain for 2007; (c) to appoint Garry Cahill, Tennis Ireland Technical Director, as Federation Cup captain for 2007 and (d) to provide the resources for specific player development initiatives.

However, Casey informed Tennis Ireland on November 30th that he intended to step down from the Davis Cup captaincy with immediate effect. So the search for a new Davis Cup captain is underway and Tennis Ireland haven't ruled out the possibility of extending the search to include overseas candidates. They hope to have an appointment confirmed by the end of January.

Meanwhile, Tennis Ireland have accepted an invitation to play an international level event against the Basque Region of Spain. The event will be held in Bilbao on December 16th-17th on indoor clay. The teams selected are as follows: Women: Kelly Liggan, Rachael Dillon, Elsa O'Riain. Men: Conor Niland, Louk Sorensen, John McGahon. Garry Cahill will take overall charge of both teams with Mariana Levova, who has recently joined the Tennis Ireland national training programme, travelling as women's practice partner.