[AUSBOY]

The draw is totally unfair

I can't believe this. Shouldn't the 8 finalists from 2001 have some advantage like at least a seeding since they are changing the format!

Seems unfair that Sweden plays Italy, Slovakia plays Switzerland and can go straight through to the Quarter finals when none of this teams even got passed the 2nd round, yet teams like Australia and Argentina who fought so well winning a few ties to get into the finals have to play like the top seeds first up!

Sweden vs Italy are actually the two weakest teams in the draw with only 1 top 100 player between them as most of the Italian players refuse to play due to payment disputes and yet they get to play each other! This is astounding!

In my opinion the 8 finalists from 2001 should all get seedings and play the 8 countries that requalified for the main world group.

The winners of Sweden/Italy and Slovakia/Switzerland don't deserve to get into the Q/F and should consider themselves extremely lucky that this stupid, bizarre draw enables this!

I'm not against a change to the format, I just don't agree with penalising defending finalists!

When you look at the teams likely to be fielded Australia is the 7th strongest.

Going on current rankings the top 8 teams are (Average ranking of likely players in brackets)

1. USA (3)<br />2. Belgium (6)<br />3. France (21)<br />4. Spain (26)<br />5. Russia (30)<br />6. Slovakia (32)<br />7. Australia (49)<br />8. Czech Republic (55)

9. Austria (56)<br />10. Germany (62)<br />11. Argentina (75)<br />12. Switzerland (75)<br />13. Croatia (75)<br />14. Hungary (88)<br />15. Italy (100)<br />16. Sweden (270)

Having stated that Belgium would be absolutely stuffed if Henin or Clitsjers can't play, they have only Callens at 163 and then Butkiewicz at 353 to replace them! Maybe Australia might get lucky otherwise it will take a miracle to avoid world group qualies!!

I don't think I'm being too biased in my opinion, I just feel Australia and Argentina have been hard done by, and this could have been avoided with introducing 8 seeds with the transition in format of the world group.

 

[Mateo Mathieu]

I'm totally agree with you! I was really angry about the new format of the Fed Cup! I think it was unfair for some countries who reached Final in 2001! Australia and Argentina should be seeded for 2002!

 

[louloubelle]

Crap draw...<br /> <img src="graemlins/firey.gif" border="0" alt="[Fiery]" />

What do you expect from the a tournament that makes sooo many cock-up changes that at the end of the day it has simply no credibility and only attracts the interest of some die hard fans.

Can anyone tell me why in the last match Evie didn't get a run in singles against Belgium? Was it because she was playing soooo badly that it wasn't worth it???

 

[argentino]

pfffffff fed cup 2002!<br /> i hate this draw, very dificult for some and ezsy for others<br />MY ARGENTINA VS FRANCE, IN THE FIRST ROUND?????? WHAT? THE PLAYED IN THE FINAL IN SPAIN, AND NOW IN THE FIRST ROUND <img src="mad.gif" border="0"> <img src="frown.gif" border="0"> <br />AND FOR EXAMPLE SWEDEN VS ITALY???? I DON´T BELIVE THIS}<br />GO ARGENTINA!!!!!! <img src="graemlins/bounce.gif" border="0" alt="[Bounce]" /> WILL BE DIFICULT BUT NO IMPOSIBLE

 

[GABRIEL]

for your peace of mind...Italy is now solving their problems (it is not about money, anyway) and 99% Silvia Farina and Rita Grande will play the Fed Cup. Between the 2 they combine a total of 38 in the rankings (nr 14 and nr 24), and you can see that this way Italy is far above Australia and Argentina.<br />I undersand that you are upset with the draw, but I do not find it so unfair <img src="graemlins/angel.gif" border="0" alt="[Angel]" />

 

[tennisuk]

Just for your info, the seedings for Fed Cup are done in exactly the same way as Davis Cup, and based on the following criteria:

Country's recent record in the competition<br />Rankings of players likely to play<br />Record of the country on all surfaces<br />Any other relevant factors

You can't just seed a country because they did well the previous year, eg Netherlands reached the 2001 Davis Cup semifinals and are not seeded next year. It is also not fair just to seed on the rankings of two players, eg Great Britain would be seeded in Davis Cup if this was the case, but they haven't won a World Group match in years.

 

[veryborednow]

At least your countries are in the Fed Cup!

Where in the UK? Nowhere<br />Why? COs they're shite

<img src="tongue.gif" border="0">

 

[Monica_Rules]

Yeah we are in euro/african group 2 not even group 1 i mean in 1998 we were 1 match away form the top 16 nations! <img src="eek.gif" border="0"> <img src="eek.gif" border="0">

 

[Tennisfan**]

Yes, AND Sam Smith was actully in the top 100!! Where are our girls now?? or the guys for that matter. As soon as Tim or Greg get injured we can kiss our Davis Cup chances away too!!!

 

[the cat]

AUSBOY, quite right, mate! The draw is a sham! Sweden versus Italy and Slovakia versus Switzerland? LOL! As Johnny Mac used to yell, "you cannot be serious"!

 

[Alek]

Go Sweden!!! <img src="biggrin.gif" border="0"> <img src="tongue.gif" border="0">

 

[Becool]

Go Sweden!!!! <img src="biggrin.gif" border="0">

 

[AUSBOY]

I'll be going for Sweden too!!

But I still think this draw is unfair for Australia and Argentina!