Nigel Sears may have been tempted to pick Laura rather than Bally had she not picked up an injury, and opted to compete if fit in 3 Australian junior tournaments. I guess she will be invited to join the squad for experience.

I have collected together the WTA ranking of the top three singles and top two (doubles) players for each of the teams in our zone. It may be a bit early this year to think about promotion but it does look as if we may move up from the close to the bottom to somewhere in the middle. With our singles and doubles players getting stronger and the possible inclusion of Laura Robson in a year or two things are looking up.

Europe/Africa Zone Group 1 2009
Croatia 19, Kostanic Tosic 112 (64), Pandzic 163 (235), Sprem 167
Austria 22, Bammer 26, Paszek 79, Meusburger 104, Klaffner (182), Mayr (233)
Sweden 25, Arvidsson 64 (193), Larsson 172 (154), Johansson 417
Netherlands 26, Rus 166, Krajicek 195 108), Ewijk 238, Thyssen (157)
Belarus 28, Azarenka 14 (12), Govortsova 45, Yakimova 101, Poutchek (40)
Hungary 30, Szavay 25 (72), Czink 100 (107), Arn 155
Romania 32, Cirstea 36 (46), Niculescu 48 (33), Gallovts 77
Bulgaria 34, Pironkova 43 (201), Karatantcheva 135 (265), Kostova 409
Slovenia Bosnia/Herzegovina 37, Srebotnik 20 (4), Klepac 120 (114), Zec Peskiric 129
Poland 38, Radwanska A 10 , Domachowska 61, Radwanska U 127, Rosolska (43), Jans (56)
Luxembourg 39, Kremer 266, Minella 332 (415), Schaul 411 (298)
Denmark 40, Wozniacki 12 (76), Jensen 418 (495), Barbat 729
Great Britain 42, Keothavong 53, South 110 (122), Baltacha 134, Borwell (104)
Estonia 45 Kanepi 27 (246), Ani 118 (79), Ruutel 158

OK, it is now the day before the week beginning 2nd February and I'm clearly looking in the wrong place for any information at all about this....I'm pretty sure this is a symptom of the fact that I am new to caring about the women beyond the information on here (which is usually far and away plentiful enough) so please could someone either post here (so I can continue to be lazy) or point me in the right direction!! Thanks :)

Draw is out we are in Group A along with Netherlands, Hungary and Luxembourg.

http://www.lta.org.uk/Watch/FedCup/

No complaints there. Hungary will be tough but beatable.



-- Edited by wolf at 14:13, 2009-02-03

The great thing is that this year the GB women have good chances if they play well against all these teams even though all 3 opposing teams have classy players despite the rankings. When was the last time we expected rather than hoped for good results - not for a long time for me anyway. All of our players are at career highs, have started the year well so must be feeling confident, so it's great. I'm looking forward to seeing how they step up.

OK, it is now the day before the week beginning 2nd February and I'm clearly looking in the wrong place for any information at all about this....
Well, your doing a damn site better than I am - until reading this, I'd assumed it was like a Davis Cup away match - i.e. just us vs. Estonia. Didn't realise everyone was playing there!