Bethanie Mattek-Sands is exactly the type of personality that any Fed Cup captain would want on their team -- willing to play singles and doubles, able to adjust quickly from the green clay to fast indoor hardcourts and states as her ambition to bring the trophy home for her nation.
Fortunately for U.S. captain Mary Joe Fernandez, Mattek-Sands will be on her team this weekend to face Russia in Birmingham, Alabama. Mattek doesn't have Venus or Serena Williams' resumes -- not by a long shot -- but neither of the U.S.' two best players has deigned to play again, both sitting out in order to rehab knee injuries.
In an individual sport like tennis, asking a player to take one for the team when she is risking a strong future individual performance is somewhat akin to asking a star baseball pitcher to go nine innings in an All-Star game.
Many of the players don't see the value of Fed Cup -- much less Davis Cup -- anymore. Some of the Eastern Europeans have complained about not being paid for duty, others have said they have sustained injuries during the competition and haven't received enough sympathy or kudos later on.
That thread can be traced to Venus' decision not to play this time around. But despite having her name bandied about, the injured Serena never seriously considered playing Fed Cup. She hasn't played a match since winning the Australian Open and has taken a wild card into Rome in 10 days time. Serena has been practicing a fair amount, but she wants to make a great showing at the French Open and has no desire to go on to an indoor hardcourt and risk banging up her knee.
0 comments:
Post a Comment