Fed Cup 2016 - Europe/Africa Group 1

AliBlahBlah · All-time great

RE: Fed Cup 2016 - Europe/Africa Group 1

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

I like the idea of the Americans are doing, holding a junior training camp, at the Fed Cup venue, as a way of getting the promising youngsters involved:

"KAILUA-KONA, HI., February 4, 2016 The USTA today announced that four top junior players are taking part in USTA Player Developments Fed Cup camp, which is held alongside the United States Fed Cup by BNP Paribas World Group II First Round tie vs. Poland, February 6-7, at the Holua Tennis Center in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii.

Usue Arconada (age 17; College Park, Md.), Kayla Day (age 16; Santa Barbara, Calif.), Caroline Dolehide (age 17; Hinsdale, Ill.), and Claire Liu (age 15; Thousand Oaks, Calif.) are all participating in the camp, an opportunity traditionally held in conjunction with Fed Cup ties in the U.S.

The camp is an opportunity for some of Americas top young players to train with one another, as well as practice and interact with the U.S. Fed Cup Team of Captain Mary Joe Fernandez, Venus Williams, Sloane Stephens, CoCo Vandeweghe, and Bethanie Mattek-Sands. USTA National Coach Kathy Rinaldi and guest coach Marianne Werdel are running the camp."

PaulM · Tennis legend

Van Uytvanck is more than capable of beating Hev handily so let's focus on even getting to a deciding doubles in the first place! Tomorrow is a big ask but the girls are capable of doing it.

If Joss isn't fit she has to step back.

indiana · Tennis legend

Just a pity that we can't for different reasons call on who appear to currently be our two best players.

But it is still winnable. Go GB !

Helen40 · Grand Slam Champion

Coup Droit wrote:
I like the idea of the Americans are doing, holding a junior training camp, at the Fed Cup venue, as a way of getting the promising youngsters involved:

"KAILUA-KONA, HI., February 4, 2016 The USTA today announced that four top junior players are taking part in USTA Player Developments Fed Cup camp, which is held alongside the United States Fed Cup by BNP Paribas World Group II First Round tie vs. Poland, February 6-7, at the Holua Tennis Center in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii.

Usue Arconada (age 17; College Park, Md.), Kayla Day (age 16; Santa Barbara, Calif.), Caroline Dolehide (age 17; Hinsdale, Ill.), and Claire Liu (age 15; Thousand Oaks, Calif.) are all participating in the camp, an opportunity traditionally held in conjunction with Fed Cup ties in the U.S.

The camp is an opportunity for some of Americas top young players to train with one another, as well as practice and interact with the U.S. Fed Cup Team of Captain Mary Joe Fernandez, Venus Williams, Sloane Stephens, CoCo Vandeweghe, and Bethanie Mattek-Sands. USTA National Coach Kathy Rinaldi and guest coach Marianne Werdel are running the camp."

It's a great idea. The Aussies seem to have that culture too. Judy's kind of doing it bringing the next generation into that squad as is Leon. Pretty inspirational.

Helen40 · Grand Slam Champion

Thanks Phil. An interesting read again

RBBOT · Futures qualifying

I say go for option 5: win the singles

tony_orient · ATP qualifying

If we are honest we are definitely underdogs tomorrow, but not without a chance.

Heather tends to get better the further she gets into a event and I would put her at least 50/50 to win tomorrow. No expectations on Katie but I wouldn't rule her out of doing something special. If it comes down to the doubles it will be a bit of a lottery as no-one is used to playing doubles for such high stakes.

Overall I rate our chances at somewhere between 1 in 4 and 1 in 3

-- Edited by tony_orient on Friday 5th of February 2016 11:26:06 PM

tony_orient · ATP qualifying

SMC1809 wrote:
tony_orient wrote:
A straight sets defeat in an hour with 11 double faults, Joss and Anna will do well to forget that one as soon as possible - they can't afford to have Georgia on their mind going into a deciding rubber tomorrow.
Wasted on us!

Well I just couldn't fit "the midnight train" into a sentence about tennis.

philwrig · Hall of fame

I think we're very small underdogs for each matchup today, I think which team handles the pressure better will prevail, it's that tight.

Oakland2002 · All-time great

The Americans have it easy, look at their team and the quality of juniors from which they can select to train alongside them, or not ( no C.C Bellis) I like exactly what we have been doing in terms of facilitating British junior to senior team tennis progression in federation cup tennis ; and hats off to the captain for putting it in place.

From a position of relative ignorance ie that of a casual observer I think this is exactly what Judy has been doing, we don't come close to the Americans in depth at junior level and if we had the likes of Arconda and Dolehide let's face it they would be training with the squad every time if not in it let alone in parallel (which is essentially what has happened to Katie).

However we do it with the junior fed cup team, again we don't have the same resources but everything is in place to give early exposure experience and facilitate development, the team generally consists of two U16s and the strongest U15 who leads it the next year. Not always feasible I am sure, but a fairly solid blue print that inducts and grows a feeling of common purpose in those eligible to play a part in the future. So if you don't have the wide roads suitable for a Cadillac no point in trying to copy it why not design and build a Rolls Royce of your own!

-- Edited by Oakland2002 on Saturday 6th of February 2016 07:36:19 AM

wimdledont · Challenger level

Swan and Bonaventura warming up.

Smith and Rae listed as playing the third rubber.

Good luck, lasses.

WavenNarsam · Lower Club Player

Katie has had a shaky start. Three breaks of serve in a row give Bonaventure a *3-2 lead.

The first serve percentage is really hurting her at the moment. If she can get that up, I think she can recover.

WavenNarsam · Lower Club Player

Both players' second serve are looking vulnerable in the early stages of this match. The only difference is Bonaventure has only played 6 second serves compared to Katie's 15.

paulisi · Tennis legend

First set gone to form. Katie struggling to hold serve.