Andy sips champagne but Aljaz is still treading water

NOVAK DJOKOVIC opened his new vegan restaurant in Monte Carlo on sunday night, attracting some tennis a-listers to the launch. among those behind the roped-off entrance to Eqvita were andy Murray, tomas Berdych and Grigor Dimitrov. Next door in McCarthy’s, an Irish pub, aljaz Bedene was eating a quick steak ordered from the bar. the juxtaposition of the top two British players neatly illustrated how the other half live on tour. ranked 60, Bedene missed the cut-off for an invite to the champagne and veggie bites reception. His less formal evening did no harm, though, as he cruised past the Czech Lukas rosol 6-2, 6-3 yesterday to make the second round of the Monte Carlo Open. He will now face rafael Nadal, while Murray plays France’s Pierre-Hugues Herbert today. Bedene (below) is left looking rather stateless after losing his appeal against the ruling preventing him from playing for Great Britain in the Davis Cup. Just how valuable slovenian-born Bedene, who plays under the British flag, would be for Leon smith’s team on clay was illustrated again by the way he cleaned up the big-hitting rosol. He is still in discussion with his lawyers about the regulation, brought in at the start of 2015, that those who have represented one country are banned from playing for another. But Bedene fears a legal challenge would be prohibitively expensive. ‘I heard £100,000.

I would pay if it’s affordable, but £100,000 is not affordable,’ he said. ‘My lawyers are still checking. I don’t want to give up.’ Bedene also wants an apology from the International tennis Federation for dragging him to Prague for an adjourned hearing last November, then keeping him up all night in america last month on skype on the day he was playing in the final of a Challenger in Dallas. ‘It’s just not right. I actually accept the new rule, I think it’s fair. But I was waiting since 2012. I really wanted this. the way they treated me wasn’t the best. they haven’t considered the human aspect in this.’ Bedene has come back from 10 days off at home with his fiancee Kimalie, a former member of slovenia’s answer to the spice Girls, who has just released her debut single You’re Not Sorry. Needless to say, it is not about Bedene’s battles with his sport’s governing body.