[killerqueen]

Wow, that's an absolutely absurd rule, and one that really could screw over some great players in the future!!

Imagine if the rule had been used for the 2012 games.. Maria would have been ineligible to play this Summer, because she missed both of Russia's 2009 ties whilst recovering from her shoulder problems. How is that in the least bit fair?

Plus, that rule really is unfair on young players. To use a hypothetical situation, let's imagine one of todays young Russian girls (let's use Khromacheva as an example) went on a fantastic run in 2015 and ended up winning a slam and became the number one? Does she not get to play in 2016 because her ranking was nowhere near high enough for entry for the 2013 Fed Cup matches? That's absolutely ridiculous...