steven wrote:

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Eleanor's story on the Sporting Life site - also includes Leon's comments on Evo www.sportinglife.com/tennis/news/article/553/9549756/tennis-news-davis-cup-hopes-dashed-for-great-britain-hopeful-alijaz-bedene

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 So obviously he cant play davis cup for us unless he can appeal somehow (I guess the interesting point there would be whether he had had a chance to play live DC rubbers for Slovenia and deliberately avoided it which seems unlikely). Does that also mean, however, that he cannot play with GBR next to his name? As far as I have read from this thread it seems he is still 50/50 to become a British citizen in Feb? Either way it would be interesting to see what support he gets at british tournaments (has anyone already seen him play and witnessed extra british support?) esp. at wimbledon - I´d cheer him on either way. Also would he then be eligible for wimbledon wildcards too?

I am 99.9% sure that he would be able to play with GBR next to his name even if ineligible for Davis Cup.

I happen to think that, as a legal principle, the rule should not be changed retrospectively - make it the rule going forward if you wish (i.e. anyone who plays a rubber from now on, for country X, will not be able to play for any other country) but retroactive laws are wrong.

As to support, Bedene had a 'lot' of GB support at the Wimbly qualifiers but that was mainly his Gosling team and mates. No members of the general public were there. But that makes sense because most of the general public couldn't even recognise Liam or Kyle, so they're hardly going to be in the know about a possible switch for Bedene.

And, yes, if he's British (IF) surely he'd get the the same rights to wildcards/perks/whatever as the others (as JoKo does, Greg R did, and Brydan presumably does).

DWH wrote:

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Sky Sports story on Aljaz this evening. Could be a British citizen as early as this week it seems.

http://www1.skysports.com/tennis/news/12040/9634698/slovenian-born-aljaz-bedene-hopes-to-be-granted-british-citizenship-this-week

Good luck to him. 

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The article seems to suggest that he has managed to circumvent the new rules with regard to DC eligibility as well.

On top of all that, he beat Lacko by 7-6(0) 6-3 today & will face the second seed, Feliciano López (WR 14), in the next round.

Interestingly, both articles say he has managed to get around the new regulations, but neither of them say why. Is it because he got his documentation in before it came into force or maybe because he has only played dead rubbers. Would be interesting to know the details. I am sure they will come out in time.

Coup Droit wrote:

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I read it that it the only applies to people who change nationality after Jan 1 2015 (with date of filing counting as changing)

i.e. Ali got his application in in December so that's 2014 and, if approved, will count as effective BEFORE the cut off Jan 2015 date.

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Yes, you're right - I asked Eleanor Crooks who wrote the Mail article and she said that was the reason why.