Fed Cup 2014 - Europe/Africa Zone Group I

Ratty · County player

RE: Fed Cup 2014 - Europe/Africa Zone Group I

scottie1 · Futures level

I think GB team suffering from Bally and Anne retiring definite lack of depth in Gb Woman at moment. Can Tara produce hops so she was great at Wimbledon last year

philwrig · Hall of fame

Shame for Laura as she was keen to play, wrist nowhere near right for her even to contemplate playing, makes you wonder what the doctor's advicce was re: the Oz open.

We now desperately need Jo to be ready to play, fingers crossed for that.

Agree with Paul about Hev's position as our number 2 being the key, Hev v Romanian number 2 we have a chance, and then it goes down to the doubles.
Joss can rise to the occasion so that is a big plus. It will put a huge onus on Hev for the week, playing back to back every day, especially after GF.

Ironically Joss last appeared in Fed Cup when Laura pulled out, and she has looked good in Sunderland this week.

tony_orient · ATP qualifying

At least with the tournament likely to be more spread out Heather can play the maximum 8 matches - over 4 days this might be a challenge but with a couple of days rest this should be OK.

TomTraubert · Futures level

no problem with joss at all

but why does anna s not get a look in?
her singles and dubs ranks are higher than joss and shes been in just as good dubs form - because shes playing with joss

is it because judy knows joss better personaly?

philwrig · Hall of fame

Joss has huge potential, and has shown in the past she can step up to the plate, plus she has Fed Cup experience, and has experience playing with Hev. She also has a huge serve, forehand and solid volleys.

Ratty · County player

philwrig wrote:
Shame for Laura as she was keen to play, wrist nowhere near right for her even to contemplate playing, makes you wonder what the doctor's advicce was re: the Oz open.

Possibly the reason is that the Australian Open is a tournament which is worth the candle; whereas nobody - apart from some of my respected fellow-contributors on this board - gives tuppence for the Fed Cup.

TomTraubert · Futures level

well using only three of many examples try going to czech republic japan or spain and asking how much they care about fed cup
its very important to them

and about joss yeah i dont doubt her qualities and potential and dedication and know shell give it all but annas current ranks and CH in both formats are superier and she plays singles and could fill in in desperate times
no problem with judys selection at all just trying to understand the reasoning

steven · Tennis legend

TomTraubert wrote:
no problem with joss at all

but why does anna s not get a look in?
her singles and dubs ranks are higher than joss and shes been in just as good dubs form - because shes playing with joss

is it because judy knows joss better personaly?

If any player has a case to argue that she has been unfairly overlooked, surely it is Naomi Broady, who was not just the next in line in singles (as GB no. 5) but is also the current GB no. 2 in doubles.

Hopefully though, the decision has been made as objectively as possible and is simply based on the fact that Judy feels she needs a doubles player who can play on a particular side of the court (assuming the singles can be covered by JoKo, Hev and Tara, this making singles prowess not very important for the 4th player) and she feels Joss is the best fit for that, for the reasons people have mentioned on this thread.

Plus of course Naomi's doubles ranking is based on a full year whereas Joss & Anna haven't been back for that long, so their rankings are not really comparable.

Spectator · All-time great

Did somebody not say that Ms Broady was in Australia? If so, I could see good reasons for her not coming back to Europe simply for the Fed Cup when there were other viable options.

Generally would feel that Ms Rae was a good choice for the doubles: good track record, experience on large stage, etc.

Long time reader · Lower Club Player

Does anybody know whether Naomi has patched up her differences with the lta now that Roger Draper has gone, and was available for selection?

Because while I can understand picking Joss now as Naomi is presumably in Australia, I personally thought the decision to pick Tara instead of Naomi in the first place was a questionable one considering Naomi's good form and their similar rankings in singles, as Naomi has a far better doubles ranking and has had some excellent doubles results in the last 7 or 8 months, and in the original team the 4th player had far more chance of playing doubles than singles. It seems strange to ignore doubles in the original selection and now pick a doubles specialist.

-- Edited by Long time reader on Friday 24th of January 2014 04:51:51 PM

indiana · Tennis legend

Joss does look a very reasonable choice. She has Fed Cup experience and has also memorably ( if you're a Scot anyway ! ) risen to the occasion at the 2010 Commonwealth Games where she won gold in the mixed with Colin Fleming, and she fully played her part.

I realise that Anna has been partnering Joss in recent triumphs, but it is clearly simply not true to suggest that the two members of a doubles pair are necessarily in the same form just because they have ( by definition ) shared the same results.

A judgement has to be made, and while Joss is currently lower ranked than some, she has come back from a long time out and, even if a little time ago, has played more in such company and with relative success.

A very understandable choice.

indiana · Tennis legend

With the original team including Laura, I could much more understand not having a doubles specialist. With Laura out, looking for a doubles rather than a singles specialist made sense, particularly rightly or wrongly with Tara being the existing 3rd member of the team ( a not clear, but not unreasonable choice over Naomi ).

philwrig · Hall of fame

Ratty wrote:
philwrig wrote:
Shame for Laura as she was keen to play, wrist nowhere near right for her even to contemplate playing, makes you wonder what the doctor's advicce was re: the Oz open.

Possibly the reason is that the Australian Open is a tournament which is worth the candle; whereas nobody - apart from some of my respected fellow-contributors on this board - gives tuppence for the Fed Cup.

I think it depends on the player, but I do know that Laura loves playing Fed Cup, shes said so on numerous occasions, take a look at some of the LTA videos taken during the Fed Cup to see why.

philwrig · Hall of fame

steven wrote:
TomTraubert wrote:
no problem with joss at all

but why does anna s not get a look in?
her singles and dubs ranks are higher than joss and shes been in just as good dubs form - because shes playing with joss

is it because judy knows joss better personaly?
If any player has a case to argue that she has been unfairly overlooked, surely it is Naomi Broady, who was not just the next in line in singles (as GB no. 5) but is also the current GB no. 2 in doubles.
Hopefully though, the decision has been made as objectively as possible and is simply based on the fact that Judy feels she needs a doubles player who can play on a particular side of the court (assuming the singles can be covered by JoKo, Hev and Tara, this making singles prowess not very important for the 4th player) and she feels Joss is the best fit for that, for the reasons people have mentioned on this thread.
Plus of course Naomi's doubles ranking is based on a full year whereas Joss & Anna haven't been back for that long, so their rankings are not really comparable.

It would be interesting if Naomi were to become a really clear and obvious selection whether what has happened in the past with regards to previous disagreements, could finally be put to one side.