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2015 Europe Africa Group I

51K views 409 replies 61 participants last post by  tennis fan475 
#1 ·
No thread yet :eek:

Again it will be in Budapest.


Details
- Dates: 3-7 February 2015
- Venue: Syma Sport és Rendezvényközpont
- City: Budapest, Hungría
- Surface: Hard court (Acrylyc) Rebound ace - Indoor
- Official ball: Wilson US Open (Thailand)


Participating nations
Austria
Belarus
Belgium
Bulgaria
Croatia
Georgia
Great Britain
Hungary
Israel
Latvia
Liechtenstein
Portugal
Serbia
Turkey
Ukraine


Format
- Round-robin basis. Four pools of four nations (Pools A, B, C and D).
- The winner of Pool A will play-off against the winner of Pool D and the winner of Pool B will play-off against the winner of Pool C to determine which two nations will advance to the World Group II play-offs.
- The bottom-placed nations in Pool A and Pool B will play-off against the bottom-placed nations in Pool C and Pool D to determine which two nations will be relegated to Europe/Africa Zone Group II in 2016.
- Two promoted.
- Two relegated.
 
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#2 ·
90 % sure Patricia Mayr-Achleitner won`t be in Austrian team next year
She`d like to play but the Austrian Fed Cup captain refuses to nominate her :(

Ivanovic and Azarenka here, this will be interesting :hehehe:
Also the Croatian future stars Vekic and Konjuh should play
 
#8 ·
Not so sure. Azarenka should win all her matches, but Sasnovich is overrated IMO
And Govortsova is a better player than Sasnovich, sadly she is completely out of form

Serbia should get promotion with Ana and Bojana, I don't know about JJ.
Ana should win her matches (besides Azarenka), but Jovanovski is nothing special, she is beatable
Jankovic is retired from Fed Cup, and I think she is going to retire from WTA Tour at the end of 2015

well Fed Cupt captain was fired :lol:
Clemens Trimmel fired :eek:
Then Mayr-Achleitner can play ;)
I wish Babsi Schett would be Fed Cup captain but she said no for next year :sad:
Why not Patricia Wartusch or Babsi Schwartz ? Are there any news ?
 
#4 ·
Serbia should get promotion with Ana and Bojana, I don't know about JJ.
 
#11 ·
Belarus, Belgium, Croatia, Serbia, and Ukraine all could go through. I have to say I think the favorites are (in order) :
1. Serbia
2. Belarus
3. Croatia
4. Belgium
5. Ukraine

Personally, I would definitely like to see Serbia go through. I like Vika, but last time they were in WG2 she wasn't very committed and I doubt it will be any different this time around. So I'll say Belgium since I like Kirsten and Yanina, though I wouldn't mind Croatia either since they seem to be on the rise with Vekic and Konjuh.
 
#12 ·
I like your top, but i want to make some clarifications regard Serbia and Belarus. They are fave only if Ana and Vika participate if not my top will be something like:

1. Croatia
2. Belgium
3. Ukraine
4. Serbia
5. Great Britain
 
#13 ·
At the risk of jinxing my country, I'd say Belgium is the fave (that is, like DanLovesWTA stated, if Vika and Ana do not participate). It has already been confirmed that both Kirsten and Yanina are going to play Fed Cup, and Alison Van Uytvanck and An-Sophie Mestach are most likely above average compared to most 3th and 4th players in the Europe-Africa zone as well. Other strong teams are likely Croatia and Ukraine.

I can't really imagine Ana or Vika playing Fed Cup in the Europe-Africa zone. They might, though, with Olympics being held next year (but I don't know the exact rules about playing Fed Cup to enter the Olympics, I just know there is a rule about this).
 
#14 ·
I can't really imagine Ana or Vika playing Fed Cup in the Europe-Africa zone. They might, though, with Olympics being held next year (but I don't know the exact rules about playing Fed Cup to enter the Olympics, I just know there is a rule about this).

It was

"Players were eligible to compete in the Olympic Tennis Event at London 2012 ....
They must also have made themselves available for selection to represent their country in Davis Cup or Fed Cup for two of the following years - 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012 - provided one of those years is 2011 or 2012."
 
#19 ·
Won`t she play Fed Cup for Switzerland ? (WG 2 tie vs Sweden at Helsingborg) :scratch:
 
#18 ·
I think Karatanceva can play also here.
 
#20 ·
Hopefully :) Bulgaria Fed Cup team should be

Pironkova
Karatantcheva
Kostova
Tomova/Evtimova
 
#21 ·
#25 ·
This is 2014 rule.

Eligibility to Represent a Country
Any tennis player who is in good standing with her National Association
in accordance with Appendix D shall be qualified to represent that
country as a player or Captain if she:
i) Is a national of that country, has a current valid passport of that
country and has lived in that country for twenty-four consecutive
months at some time, and has not represented any other country
during the period of 36 months immediately preceding the event

iii) A player shall be deemed to have represented a country if she shall
have been nominated and shall have accepted the nomination to
play in the Olympic Tennis Event or in any International Team
Competition recognized by the ITF and listed in Bye-law 2.1(a)
It has not been strictly followed in certain past cases though.
 
#27 ·
Austria: Patricia Mayr-Achleitner, Tamira Paszek, Barbara Haas and Sandra Klemenschits.
Belarus: Victoria Azarenka, Aliaksandra Sasnovich, Olga Govortsova and Iryna Shymanovich.
Croatia: Mirjana Lucic-Baroni, Donna Vekic, Ana Konjuh and Darija Jurak.
Georgia: Sofia Shapatava, Ekaterine Gorgodze, Oksana Kalashnikova and Mariam Bolkvadze.
Latvia: Diana Marcinkevica, Jelena Ostapenko and Darta-Elizabete Emulina.
Israel: Shahar Peer, Julia Glushko, Keren Shlomo and Alona Pushkarevsky.
Liechtenstein: Steffi Vogt, Kathinka von Deichmann, Lynn Zund and Sandra Hinterberger.
Ukraine: Elina Svitolina, Lesia Tsurenko, Kateryna Kozlova and Olga Savchuk.
Great Britain: Heather Watson, Johanna Konta, Jocelyn Rae and Anna Smith.
Serbia: Aleksandra Krunic, Ivana Jorovic, Doroteja Eric and Vojislava Lukic.

Belgium, Bulgaria, Hungary, Portugal, Turkey TBD.
 
#32 ·
Austria - Patricia Mayr-Achleitner, Tamira Paszek, Barbara Haas, Sandra Klemenschits, Jurgen Waber (captain)

Belarus - Victoria Azarenka, Aliaksandra Sasnovich, Olga Govortsova, Iryna Shymanovich, Tatiana Poutchek (captain)

Belgium - Yanina Wickmayer, An-Sophie Mestach, Alison van Uytvanck, Ysaline Bonaventure, Ann Devries (captain)

Bulgaria - Tsvetana Pironkova, Elitsa Kostova, Dia Evtimova, Viktoriya Tomova, Dora Rangelova (captain)

Croatia - Mirjana Lucic-Baroni, Donna Vekic, Ana Konjuh, Darija Jurak, Iva Majoli (captain)

Georgia - Sofia Shapatava, Ekaterine Gorgodze, Oksana Kalashnikova, Mariam Bolkvadze, Margalita Chakhnashvili (captain)

Great Britain - Heather Watson, Johanna Konta, Anna Smith, Jocelyn Rae, Judy Murray (captain)

Hungary - Reka-Luca Jani, Dalma Galfi, Anna Bondar, Fanny Stollar, Gabor Juhasz (captain)

Israel - Shahar Peer, Julia Glushko, Keren Shlomo, Alona Pushkarevsky, Amos Mansdorf (captain)

Latvia - Diana Marcinkevica, Jelena Ostapenko, Darta-Elizabete Emulina, Daiga Juska (captain)

Liechtenstein - Stephanie Vogt, Kathinka von Deichmann, Lynn Zund, Sandra Hinterberger, Daniel Kieber (captain)

Portugal - Michelle Larcher de Brito, Barbara Luz, Maria Joao Koehler, Ines Murta, Andre Lopes (captain)

Serbia - Aleksandra Krunic, Ivana Jorovic, Doroteja Eric, Vojislava Lukic, Tatjana Jecmenica-Jevtic (captain)

Turkey - Cagla Buyukakcay, Pemra Ozgen, Ipek Soylu, Basak Eraydin, Alaaddin Karagoz (captain)

Ukraine - Elina Svitolina, Lesia Tsurenko, Kateryna Kozlova, Olga Savchuk, Natalia Medvedeva (captain)
 
#34 ·
Britain taking a big risk by choosing both Rae and Smith over a singles player in a week-long event. If Watson or Konta get injured, they are screwed.

In-form Georgian players could beat some of these teams, hopefully we can survive relegation. In 2016 I think Bolkvadze will be our number 1.
 
#36 ·
I guess the rules for the Olympics will have changed and she can participate without having to play FC. It kinda makes sense not to play 'cause it's the Diamond Games the week after the Fed Cup, but I'd hoped she would've played too :sad:

We still have a strong team :bounce:
 
#40 ·
Croatia, Belarus, and Ukraine seem to be the teams to watch but it all depends on the draw...
Ukraine could do better if K.Bondarenko joined I think but Tsurenko usually plays her best during Fed Cup and I remember she almost single handedly beat Italy on clay in Italy a few years ago when Ukraine was still in the World Group....

Hungary and Serbia look pretty poor. Hungary might be relegated in their own country :awww:
I didn't expect Czink to play but I expected Babos to play. Babos and Jani plus two of the young girls (Galfi/Bondar/Stollar) is what I would've expected from Hungary. Would be a shame if they fall to Group II because they used to be one of the strongest teams in Group I back when they had Szavay, Marosi, Arn, etc. :sad:

Serbia is shocking that they are playing with their #4, 7, 9, and 10 players. Jankovic I understand because she retired from Fed Cup (which I think is weird but whatever). Ivanovic played 2013 and 2014 so she is probably just taking the year off. Jovanovski always plays so its too bad that she picked this year to skip when she would be needed the most. Dolonc and Jaksic not playing is also surprising because they are normally benchwarmers on the team but this would be their chance to shine...
 
#53 ·
Croatia, Belarus, and Ukraine seem to be the teams to watch but it all depends on the draw...
Ukraine could do better if K.Bondarenko joined I think but Tsurenko usually plays her best during Fed Cup and I remember she almost single handedly beat Italy on clay in Italy a few years ago when Ukraine was still in the World Group....

Hungary and Serbia look pretty poor. Hungary might be relegated in their own country :awww:
I didn't expect Czink to play but I expected Babos to play. Babos and Jani plus two of the young girls (Galfi/Bondar/Stollar) is what I would've expected from Hungary. Would be a shame if they fall to Group II because they used to be one of the strongest teams in Group I back when they had Szavay, Marosi, Arn, etc. :sad:

Serbia is shocking that they are playing with their #4, 7, 9, and 10 players. Jankovic I understand because she retired from Fed Cup (which I think is weird but whatever). Ivanovic played 2013 and 2014 so she is probably just taking the year off. Jovanovski always plays so its too bad that she picked this year to skip when she would be needed the most. Dolonc and Jaksic not playing is also surprising because they are normally benchwarmers on the team but this would be their chance to shine...
Those three are pretty much top juniors. Apart from Babos, Hungary does not have stronger players than those I think. IMO they should be fine.
 
#42 ·
Azarenka :yeah:

Ivanovic, Jovanovski, Flipkens, Babos :no:

Lucic :eek: :hearts:
Her last Fed Cup was 1998 ! And she has a 14-3 record, even 12-1 in singles :worship:

Many with their best possible team :D
For example Austria, Belarus, Bulgaria, Croatia, Latvia, Israel, Liechtenstein, Ukraine

Serbia :lol: :help:
 
#43 ·
Serbia should pray not go in Group II now :lol:
 
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