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Fed Cup 2013

22K views 459 replies 23 participants last post by  Sobachka 
#1 ·
Any idea on who will be on our team? I'm hoping for Martic, Vekic, Jurak and Konjuh (I think Miki isn't getting an invite after what happened last year).
We finally have a team that can compete with a chance to advance!
 
#10 ·
Sorry, why would she?
And who the f are you to be that judgemental?
Mirjana's not only one of the best Croatia tennis players in history( to be honest only Majoli is better), she's also one of best Croatian sportswomen in history. She won two WTA tournaments and 2 WTA doubles tournament. She's doubles grand Slam champion, reached final in mixed doubles in Wimbledon and SF in singles. During all that time she promoted Croatia, and those were the days when Croatia wasn't ''popular'' or know in world in the way it is today. When playing for Croatian representation she won 12 matches and lost only one, always fought hard.

And what was she actually given in return? half of the media was writing crap about her in the start of new century and she wasn't given any help to come back(to tennis or Croatia). Not from Croatia, not from Croatian tennis. And it's not that they weren't able to find her sponsors, they didn't want to.
Mirjana's personality, interests, life story are all more than atractive to sponsors but she was given no help. She made it back on her own, she's not one of the best today but who knows if somebody was there to help her in Croatian sport in 2004 where she would be today.
But no, nobody from Croatia helped her, second best tennis in history of our country and one of the best sportswomen in history( frankly I see only Janica Kostelic, Blanka vlasic, Sanja Jovanovic and few other as more sucessfull).
So please don't you say that we shouldn't mention her name because she's given to this small country more then you will ever give probably. And if she decides to play for the USA next year, go Miki (you should have done it before). But knowing her, I don't see it happening.
 
#16 ·
Well fuck that chance. She's not the only player ever that didn't came. Many others did it more times and had no credit, she has some. And btw, she said she was injured and played Midland without training, just to get some matches. I believe 26 26 to Brengle does seem like she was injured
 
#17 ·
Nice to see someone opening this thread (kudos to "someone";)), cause after all these years we finally should have a really decent team in 2013.

That said, I'm still not convinced, although I am hopeful, that we'll get out of the zonal mud soon. Achieving that is no small feat, as there are many good teams in the same bucket and some pretty great teams struggle for years to advance to WG2. It would be fantastic if our girls could make it, but that'll naturally depend on many factors - team selection being one of the most important.

Somehow I think that we can't really count on several girls (Lucic, Jurak, maybe Abramovic too), but that still leaves us with a chance for a strong team if both Petra and Donna show up. Mrdeza could be a valuable addition in weaker encounters and Ajla, if healthy, could play an important role as well. Vrljic and Savic are IMO very inconsistent, Mekovec too inexperienced and the other girls are just not on a level which I'd at the moment allow in the FC team. If Jurak doesn't show up (very probable IMO), we could get a pretty good doubles player in Pandzic I think (has a 100k title from '08), so it'll definately be interesting to see what Majoli decides.
 
#18 ·
Ana Konjuh looks to be in, based on what her coach said these days, which gives us at least something to work with.

I don't know exactly when will the draw be made, but looking at the list of participants in our zone you can't help but think that Romania, Bulgaria, Netherlands and Great Britain are probably the strongest candidates for winning their respective groups - assuming none of them will be drawn in the same one.
 
#21 ·
Looks like it's Martic, Vekic, Mrdeza and Konjuh this year, although I can't find it officially anywhere. If it proves to be true, sounds very good. That is, of course, assuming Petra gets to a good start in Melbourne and that Vekic's form remains constant. Both Vekic and Konjuh can be good in doubles, which is great cause Petra will probably get to play a lot in singles (as is expected). Mrdeza might be an interesting addition this year, cause she is known for giving a decent resistance and often getting the job done against girls ranked about the same as she is.

Really looking forward to February, but first thing's first...Melbourne. With all four Down Under it'll give us a better idea of what can we expect in FC.
 
#23 ·
Group A
Austria: Tamira Paszek, Yvonne Meusburger, Patricia Mayr-Achleitner, Nicole Rottmann, Jurgen Waber (captain)
Belarus: Olga Govortsova, Ilona Kremen, Aliaksandra Sasnovich, Ekaterina Dzehalevich, Tatiana Poutchek (captain) vika wd
Georgia: Sofia Shapatava, Sofia Kvatsabaia, Ekaterine Gorgodze, Margalita Chakhnashvili (playing captain)
Croatia: Petra Martic, Donna Vekic, Tereza Mrdeza, Ana Konjuh, Iva Majoli (captain)
 
#24 ·
Well IMO Belarussians are the favs even without Vika, but we actually might stand a chance if Petra gets it together by then. But since that's not very likely to happen, we'll probably end up 2nd in the group and miss the chance to play for a place in WG2.
 
#26 ·
I wish I could be as optimistic. There are still many moonballers in the field and those can easily prove lethal for our youngsters. Of course, having Iva there will help them calm down and focus, but still it's quite a lot to ask of them.

Here's how our girls stand against this field (minus Paszek and her eventual replacement):

Mrdeza - Meusburger 1:1
Mrdeza - Mayr 0:1
Mrdeza - Kremen 1:0
Mrdeza - Shapatava 1:0
Mrdeza - Kvatsabaia 1:1
TOTAL 4:3

Martic - Mayr 2:2
Martic - Meusburger 1:1
Martic - Govortsova 0:1
Martic - Dzehalevich 0:1
Martic - Shapatava 1:0
TOTAL 4:5

Donna and Ana never played against any of these to my knowledge.

OK, some of these matches took place years ago, but it's still not nice to see some of the h2h's, especially in the light of Petra's recent form. We also don't have a great and experienced doubles player other than Petra. Donna never plays doubles now and Ana still hasn't played a professional doubles match.

Still, hoping for the best of course :)
 
#35 ·
Donna will find herself in a completely new situation - to be the team leader :eek: A lot of pressure on young shoulders, that's for sure, but it could actually do a lot of good for her confidence as well. Yes, Jurak would be a good replacement considering she is not defending any major points until later in the month and would be an amazing help for doubles. Savic is probably out of the question cause she's already in Australia getting ready for tournaments and to cancel all that off and come to Israel would be asking for a lot. Vrljic wouldn't be of much help ATM due to her recent (in)activity and questionable form.
 
#38 ·
Btw, I haven't heard anything about a replacement for Martic either. Hopefully it's Jurak, but in case she can't make it, I think Vrljic would be the next best thing all things considered. But next week she is defending some points (a semi of a 25k) so I'm not sure she'll be available.
 
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