Bates warns players 'not to do anything stupid'

Britain's Davis Cup players, who are in Tel Aviv - three days after a suicide bomber killed four people and injured 50 - have been warned by their captain, Jeremy Bates, not to venture out of their hotel alone.

"Jeremy spoke to us," said Andrew Murray, the 17-year-old US Open junior champion from Dunblane. "He told us we must not leave the hotel on our own, even going for a run or shopping at the supermarket."

Murray, a contender to make his debut in the Euro/African Zone tie, from Friday to Sunday, in the absence of Tim Henman, who has retired from the competition, added that Bates had told the players to be careful and "not to do anything stupid".

The bomb went off on Friday night outside a night-club a few miles from the British team's hotel. They arrived on Saturday and practised yesterday.

Murray said he would try not to think about what happened. "I don't think it will have any effect on the team's concentration. We will be fine if we stay in the hotel and the tennis club." Bates is confident that security matters will not pose a threat.

Greg Rusedski, Arvind Parmar, David Sherwood and Alex Bogdanovic are the other members of the British squad

Rusedski arrived in Tel Aviv on Saturday after spending a few days practising in the United Arab Emirates after losing to Henman in the first round of the Dubai Duty Free Open last Tuesday night.

Roger Federer won the Dubai title last night for the third year in a row - achieving his 16th consecutive victory in finals. The Swiss world No 1 defeated Henman's conqueror, Ivan Ljubicic, of Croatia, 6-1, 6-7, 6-3.

Andre Agassi left Dubai yesterday to go to California to join the United States Davis Cup team for their World Group tie against Croatia in Carson.

The 34-year-old was given a standing ovation after losing to Federer in the semi-finals, 6-3, 6-1, after only 51 minutes on Saturday night.

Federer rediscovered his magic touch against Agassi after struggling in earlier matches. Agassi stayed on level terms until the seventh game, from which point Federer purred.