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Hrbaty threatens to quit after brother is attacked

Dominik Hrbaty of Slovakia threatened to leave the court after his brother was attacked in the stands by a Russian fan during his match against Yevgeny Kafelnikov in the Davis Cup quarter-finals.

''They attacked my younger brother,'' an emotional Hrbaty said. ''If this happened again I would just leave the court.''

Slovak captain Miloslav Cecir said his team was considering filing an official complaint with the ITF, the world governing body for tennis, over the incident.

"He must let them (the ITF) know about it,'' he said. ''I think the whole situation should have been handled a little better by the security personnel.''

Hrbaty, 21, said that his brother George, 19, was beating drums to encourage him during the match when he was attacked yesterday by a spectator.

''The security should have been much better,'' he said. ''It's my family and I was very concerned for their safety.''

The spokesman for security at the Olympic Sports Complex said officials had reacted to the incident in which a Russian fan tried to grab the drums from George.

The match was interrupted for several minutes in the third set before security officials escorted the Russian from the arena.

Hrbaty said the incident had not affected his performance.

''Actually it made me play better,'' he said. ''I wanted to show the Russians that matches are won on the court rather than in the stands.''

Kafelnikov went on to win 2-6, 6-2, 6-7, 6-1, 7-5 and give Russia a 2-0 lead after the first day's play, Marat Safin having beaten Karol Kucera 2-6, 6-4, 6-2, 6-4 in the opening singles.

There had already been trouble before the tie when Russian captain Shamil Tarpishchev said he was considering lodging a complaint against a Swedish company which, he said, had supplied sand with high levels of radioactivity sand for the court in Moscow. The Swedish company was quoted as saying the sand was not dangerous.

UNI