Italy won their to their second Federation Cup title in four years by destroying the United States 4-0 in the final on the weekend. A wonderful achievement by the Italian ladies and one I am sure they are very proud of.

As one of their players, Flavia Pennetta, said: "We are champions of the world. It's simple!"

Without taking anything away from the Italian’s victory I wonder how seriously one can take this event when so many of the top players in the world seem to shun taking part and representing their national teams.

In the USA team were Melanie Oudin, Vania King, Alexa Glatch and Liesel Huber – the former South African player now representing the USA. How many of those names do you recognize? No Williams sisters or any other recognized American player in their team.

It really isn’t simple though, because having a major international tennis event without many of the top players in the world seriously devalues the event and makes a mockery of proceedings.

It isn’t of course unique to the Federation Cup. The Davis Cup – the premier men’s team tournament - suffers from a similar situation as does the Hopman Cup and, to a lesser degree, the golf World Cup that takes place around this time of the year.

South Africa has done well over the years with our golfers winning the title on a number of occasions but often without many of the best golfers taking part – in out team or those of their competitors.

This reminds me of the debate recently around golf being admitted as an Olympic sport at the Games from 2016 and the fact that tennis has been an Olympic sport for some years now. Is this right?

My answer is “No – they shouldn’t be there!” Surely the criteria for deciding whether a sporting code should be part of the Olympic Games is the fact that winning an Olympic medal – and particularly the gold medal – is the pinnacle of achievement in that sporting code?

With regards to golf, would Tiger Woods, Ernie Els or any other golfer rather have an Olympic gold medal or golfing major trophy in their trophy cabinet? Similarly is it more important to the Roger Federers and Rafael Nadals of the tennis world to win an Olympic medal or (another!) Grand Slam title?

History shows us that while Steffi Graf may have won the Ladies Gold Medal in 1988 and I am sure she treasures it, very often the top tennis players do not even feature as competitors at the Olympics and I am sure that will be the case over time in the golf event.