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Post Info TOPIC: Fed Cup 2014 - Euro/Africa Zone Group I
steven


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Fed Cup 2014 - Euro/Africa Zone Group I
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The usual early start to the thread now that the new rankings are out - I've put Group I in the name this time to remind us to start a new thread if we manage to get to the playoffs again.

GB have dropped one place to 17 after losing to Argentina, with them, Poland and Canada all moving ahead of us, while France and the Ukraine have dropped behind us. Yes that's right, we are now ahead of France!

For the second year in a row, three European teams lost in the World Group II playoffs, which means that having gone up from 15 teams to 16 last year, Euro/Africa Zone Group I will grow again, to 17 teams, in 2014. A pity really, since the number of teams is dependent on the number coming down from the playoffs, so more teams tends to mean more relatively strong teams.

As things stand (i.e. unless the order of the teams in the rankings changes between now and the end of the year), the seeding bands would be as follows:

Rk Team - all were in EAZ Group I last year unless otherwise stated

15 Belgium - relegated from World Group II
17 Great Britain - lost promotion play-off
21 Ukraine - relegated from World Group II
22 Belarus

26 Austria
27 Bulgaria
28 Croatia
30 Hungary

31 Portugal
32 Netherlands
33 Slovenia
35 Romania

36 Israel
38 Turkey
48 Luxembourg
58 Tunisia - promoted from EAZ Group II

63 Latvia - promoted from EAZ Group II

(there will be one pool of 5 next year, as there was in 2006, the last time there were 17 teams in Group I)

The teams that were in Group I last year but will not be returning in 2014 are Poland, who won promotion to World Group II, and Bosnia Hercegovina & Georgia, who both got relegated this year.



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GB on a shirt, Davis Cup still gleaming, 79 years of hurt, never stopped us dreaming ... 29/11/2015 that dream came true!

GB top 25s (ranks, whereabouts) & stats - http://www.britishtennis.net/stats.html
paulisi


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Any ideas where this will be held.

Looking at the countries, nothing much to fear in the group stages - most have one decent player and no back up. Just the top four seeding in the playoff match that may cause a problem.

You would worry about Belarus if Azarenka played singles and doubles



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philwrig


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Israel I believe again, and Croatia will be very strong next year, with 3 very strong younger players and Martic as well if all fit.

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tony_orient


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No one as good as Poland in 2014, but Belgium would probably be the toughest opposition. Much will depend on which players turn up for each country - a number of countries didn't have their top 2 playing in 2013 for one reason or another.

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indiana


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Bah - a thread I was really hoping not to see...

Yes, a year on, Croatia could be a bit of a handful. They gave Poland a bit of a fright this year.

I assume that the top 2 ranked teams would be seeded to avoid each other, so we would avoid Belgium if the rankings remain in that order.

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steven


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indiana wrote:

Bah - a thread I was really hoping not to see...

Yes, a year on, Croatia could be a bit of a handful. They gave Poland a bit of a fright this year.

I assume that the top 2 ranked teams would be seeded to avoid each other, so we would avoid Belgium if the rankings remain in that order.

A thread I was hoping not to have any reason to start too!

I can certainly imagine Croatia being the one the top 4 seeds are desperate to avoid in their pool ... and preferably in their 'half' of the draw too.

As you say, the tournament is effectively split into two even if it isn't that obvious and we should therefore avoid Belgium throughout, since a quick check suggests none of the relevant teams have points still to come off before the seedings are done and hence the order of these teams in the rankings shouldn't change between now and then.



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GB on a shirt, Davis Cup still gleaming, 79 years of hurt, never stopped us dreaming ... 29/11/2015 that dream came true!

GB top 25s (ranks, whereabouts) & stats - http://www.britishtennis.net/stats.html
WD40


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With Anne K retiring, JoKo and Sam doing well in Winnapeg and Bally seeming to have gone missing? I have been thinking about the team selection for next year's Fed Cup. Obviously Hev and Laura are automatic choices (barring illness/injury). Then I suspect JoKo would be the next choice and finally it would appear that Tara is the favourite for the 4th spot at the moment. This may change of course during the course of the coming months, but if this is the final team then it would be the youngest GB Fed Cup team in a very long time (I believe) , with JoKo the eldest at the ripe old age of 22!! In fact, I may be wrong in this as I have not checked , but I suspect that it would be the youngest ever.

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paulisi


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You never know, but Jade and Lisa may be knocking on the door for selection as they are progressing well at the moment and it is 6 months plus away.

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philwrig


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Bally was nearly back to her very best before her little break, so on that form would put her a smidgen ahead of JoKo. Assuming she is fine I would make her our number 3 just.
I agree if Tara keeps progressing she will put herself into contention even without any injuries etc.,


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