Russia Having Difficulty Creating A Fed Cup Team

Written by: Bob Larson Tennis on 23rd October 2013

Russia Having Difficulty Creating A Fed Cup Team

epa03672020 Russian team members Maria Kirilenko (R), Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (2nd R), Ekaterina Makarova (3rd R), Elena Vesnina (2nd L) and team captain Shamil Tarpischev (L) celebrate their victory over the Slovakian team in the Tennis Federation Cup semi final match between Russia and Slovakia in Moscow, Russia, 21 April 2013. EPA/MAXIM SHIPENKOV |

The Fed Cup is supposedly the foremost team competition in the female tennis world but while the currently fit top eight players are battling it out in this week’s TEB BNP Paribas WTA Championships in Istanbul, next week’s Italy v Russia final in Cagliari, Sardinia is descending into farce.

With the WTA’s decision to stage their second tier ‘Championships’, the Tournament of Champions in Sofia in the same week as the Fed Cup final, three prospective members of the Russian team, Maria Kirilenko (currently ranked world no.18) Elena Vesnina (world no.25) and Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (world no.26) have all told captain Shamil Tarpischev that their priorities lie improving their ranking and making money in Bulgaria.

Russia, preparing for a sixth final in ten years, is already without the services of injured world no.2 Maria Sharapova while 24th ranked Ekaterina Makarova, playing the doubles event in Istanbul this week, believes her suspect wrist will not be able to handle two successive weeks of competition. Meantime veterans Svetlana Kuznetsova (world no. 21) and Nadia Petrova (world no. 7 at doubles) have both declared themselves unavailable for selection.

Russia has a strong Fed Cup tradition, winning the Fed Cup final on four occasions, in 2004, 2005, 2007 and 2008. In the semi-final, Tarpischev’s team created history against the Slovak Republic with Makarova the heroine by becoming the first nation to come back from 0-2 down to win a semifinal since the inception of the World Group in 1995.

Not even the fact that Russia goes into this year’s showpiece with a 5-1 lead in previous meetings against Italy, including a victory in the 2007 final, seems to stir the patriotism among the nation’s younger players.

Teenagers Alexandra Panova (ranked world no.138), Daria Gavrilova (this week ranked world no.129), Margarita Gasparyan (world no.317), and Irina Khromacheva (world no.231) have all been asked to play along with 186th ranked 24 year-old Alisa Kleybanova, who is returning to fitness after overcoming Hodgkin’s lymphoma and made the quarterfinals in last week’s Kremlin Cup in Moscow.

Gavrilova declined as she hasn’t been getting enough support from the Russian Federation while Kleybanova is reportedly undecided because of the travel and the fact the Fed Cup final will be staged on her least favorite surface of outdoor clay.

Tarpischev, president of the Russian Tennis Federation since 1991, refuted suggestions that finance is the root of the problem and the players’ reluctance is fuelled by the fact many believe they would actually lose money by representing their country.

He maintained that should his team end up lifting the Fed Cup, the Russian Tennis Federation would pay each player $US100,000.

The Italian camp seems far more committed. Roberta Vinci, in Istanbul to play doubles alongside Sara Errani, maintains the Fed Cup final takes precedence over playing Sofia and she has informed the WTA accordingly.

Currently the eight player field for the Tournament of Champions in Sofia is the Russian trio of Vesnina, Kirilenko and Pavlyuchenkova, along with Simona Halep, Alize Cornet, Samantha Stosur, and wild cards Ana Ivanovic and Tsvetana Pironkova.

Topics: 10sballs.com, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, Ekaterina Makarova, Elena Vesnina, Fed Cup, Maria Kirilenko, Maria Sharapova, Nadia Petrova, Russia, Shamil Tarpischev, TEB BNP Paribas WTA Championships, Tennis, Tennis News, Wta

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October 23, 2013 at 8:33 am

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