FED CUP 2017 - Euro/Africa Zone Group 1 - Tallinn, Estonia (week commencing 6 Feb)

tony_orient · ATP qualifying

FED CUP 2017 - Euro/Africa Zone Group 1 - Tallinn, Estonia (week commencing 6 Feb)

PaulM · Tennis legend

Italy at home would be a superb draw. Errani is nowhere, Giorgi is banned by their association, pick a fast indoor hard court and we'd have a great chance. That Slovakian team was very weak and they've cruised through.

I was a little surprised Romania lost to Belgium, but Niculescu and Begu seem to be struggling more than I realised. But as they can draft in Halep then yeah they are who you want to avoid.

Canada, even with Bouchard, and Australia, are both beatable with our best team playing well.

Exciting times!

-- Edited by PaulM on Sunday 12th of February 2017 03:50:45 PM

vohor · Grand Slam Champion

Exciting times indeed Paul; I'm quietly confident we can this time achieve what just eluded us away to Sweden smile

-- Edited by vohor on Sunday 12th of February 2017 04:40:27 PM

skibbarriz · Strong Club Player

tony_orient wrote:

Without knowing how the ranking points work, I am going to make a guess that Canada will overtake Chinese Taipei leaving Italy, Australia, Romania and Canada as the four seeds. Romania would be the team to avoid and Canada the best draw.

Although without knowing the reality of which players are going to be present come the tie, it's uncertain to say.

Jan · Hall of fame

Belated congrats to the girls - I've been away!

Oakland2002 · All-time great

I'm sorry to hear that, Bronzfield or Low Newton.

newman · Improver

It's got to be the same 4

philwrig · Hall of fame

Right nearly back home after an unscheduled pit stop at Copenhagen airport last night.

Going into Saturday we all thought that Hev's was the key matchup, and from the getgo she was right on it, Vekic meanwhile was agitated and struggling to match Hev's superior level. The 1st set was relatively stressfree, but the 1st bit of drama occurred at the start of the 2nd. Our travelling support consisted of mainly BATs members and they tend to be aged anywhere between 40 and 75. Well a lady who was at the upper end of that age range bless her was rally getting into the chanting and organising part of it, lost her balance from the second row of the stand, fell right to the bottom colliding with the courtside boarding, somewhat miraculously she was fine apart other than a few bumps and bruises, but Hev's focus dipped for a few points after a bit of a delay and for the 1st time in the match she was a break down, have to say Joss was great and cameover to the lady who had fallen over and made sure she was alright, a real class act. Not like Majoli who was laughing at the incident. The remainder of the 2nd set Hev had to battle hard to regain control but was always on top so it was just a matter of time before she came out the victor. I did get a death stare from Vekic at 1 stage during the match can't imagine what that was for ;) The British support were really getting behind the team, basically making as much noise as possible.

Jo's match with Konjuh looked to be going to script early on, but it was soon clear that Konjuh's level was so high that Jo was really going to have earn victory. Then Jo's energy levels began to drop as Konjuh was starting to win all the long rallies, yesterday's flattish performance against the Turk beginning to look like it was being repeated. Konjuh was very impressive, ice cool and not making unforced errors with huge power on serve and on her groundies. Now for the next big drama, Jo was a break up the 2nd when we got into a very long game of deuces, when a serve of Jo's was called in but the Croatian went ballistic when they believed the ball was way long. Majoli actually came onto the court to show the mark and Konjuh and her remonstrated for probably about 10 minutes. When play resumed Jo gifted a couple of points and was promptly broken back. Jo just couldn't withhold the onslaught of Konjuh and we were level at 1 rubber all heading into the doubles ( to be continued )

PaulM · Tennis legend

Thanks Phil, Konjuh is such a talent. One of those who if she gets hot you have to just hang in and hope her level drops, but she's getting better and better and her consistency is improving (and of course indoors she has less variables to deal with that can throw her off). If she can keep that up she'll race up this year.

Glad to hear the lady was ok

Julia Carrot · All-time great

Thanks so much Phil, looking forward to the next instalment, whenever. I'm sure you are knackered after all that travelling .

philwrig · Hall of fame

Jo walked off the court distraught and we assumed that she was in no fit shape mentally to play the deciding doubles. Joss looked like she was going to play with Hev, but it would appear when asked Jo was desperate to atone for the point she didn't win in the singles, so we were now set for one of the most exciting deciding rubbers in the British women's tennis in a generation.

The start was very ominous, a double break down before you could blink an eyelid. But we got one of the beaks back straightaway, and you just sensed it was being to feel like a 50/50 match eventhough we were looking like dropping the 1st. The level was extraordinarily high with Hev playing brilliantly and Jo a bit up and down but still contributing massively, meanwhile the Croats were outstanding. So we lost the 1st and it was nip and tuck in the 2nd. Then the next bit of drama, one of our fans who had been to Ottawa and picked up a nasty cough, completely not intentionally coughed between Konjuh's 1st and 2nd serve, Konjuh not happy and distracted promptly double faulted and that led to the break in the 2nd. We were broken back but broke Jurak again to take the 2nd. Now into the 3rd things started to change, Konjuh started to tire, started to fret, we started to make more gambles on the intercepts, and eventhough frustratingly we were broken twice at the start of the 3rd, we broke straight back and were making most of the opportunities. There were a few Croats supporting their team and they were managing to create an annoying noise banging their feet on the wooden floor recreating what sounded like the start of a Queen song, I'm sure it contributed to one of the breaks on our serve !!By this stage the line calling was becoming to be a bit of a joke, both teams affected, Annie K arguing with the umpire and Majoli shrugging her shoulders were becoming regular features, then we got the vital final break, and the for the 1st time the Croats cracked, a very poor return for them, and eventhough Jo was a bit nervy serving out again the Croats were quite charitable with some of their errors. GSM !!!! everyone went ballistic, high fives with the supporters too. Managed to get a great selfie with the team (cheers Hev !) and anyone who follows me on twitter will have already have seen the gory details.

Michael Downey and the deputy president of the LTA were there( they were both very friendly and chatty ), and kindly invited us to the team hotel for free drinks and nibbles. All the team came (apart from Jo) and chatted to us for well over an hour, there were speeches from Annie and the dep. president too. All in all it was a great end to a great day.

Finally they've already looked at potential venues for a home tie, and without revealing any trade secrets, the number 1 choice is a venue in London which holds about 5000. It will be priced to ensure a full crowd too.

Jan · Hall of fame

Thanks Phil - much appreciated!

the addict · Tennis legend

Great report Phil, much appreciated. Great photo too !!

Sim · County player

Thanks Phil, your report really brings the matches to life.

And yes Stephen has retweeted your photo which looks great.

Congratulations to the whole team - one more round to win. Let's home it is at home.

vohor · Grand Slam Champion

Brilliant reportage (and, of course, hat!); many thanks Phil :D
Just don't have death stare nightmares! :)