2011 Hopman Cup: Serbia loses final spot to Belgium
Smiles and cheers of the Serbian nation disappeared on Friday after it was announced that Serbia would pull out of the 2011 Hopman Cup final match owing to an injury sustained by her player, Ana Ivanovic.
It was literally only yesterday, when the Serbia nation was celebrating about moving into the final of another team event despite her session nine loss to Belgium. Having enjoyed perfect 3-0 wins in her Ties against Kazakhstan and Australia, Serbia had moved
into the pole position for moving into the finals. This was confirmed on Thursday, when Djokovic won his rubber against Belgian Ruben Bemelmans despite their 2-1 loss in the Tie. However, it was this fateful Tie where Ivanovic played Justine Henin and suffered
an abdomen injury.
Although, she disregarded the injury then, scans at a later stage showed the condition to be such that it forced Ivanovic to pull out of the event. Though it was allowed in the round robin stage to replace an injured player as Kazakhstan did, replacing Yaroslava
Shvedova with Sesil Karatantcheva, the rules of the Final do not allow this. Given her withdrawal from the final; Serbia hands over her spot to seconds in Group B, the Belgians.
Speaking of this, tournament director Paul McNamee said, ''Ana Ivanovic has had to withdraw from the tournament, she sustained an injury against Justine Henin and had a scan today and she’s not going to be able to play at the Final. Obviously it's a blow
for Ana and Novak and it’s a shame they’re not going to be able to take their place at the Final. Under the tournament rules, it’s very clear in the Final. If a player cannot play then the team that is second place in the Group goes to the final so as a consequence,
Belgium will be playing the Final tomorrow.''
Commenting on Ivanovic’s injury, McNamee stated, ''It happened during the Henin match and she was still OK in the mixed apparently. She warmed up, but then obviously felt it this morning and also during practice she couldn’t continue. She’s pretty shattered
because today is her Christmas Day too so not a great day for it to happen. This afternoon, we just got the results back and it was clear she can’t play tomorrow, very clear.”
Although, Belgium started her run in the event suffering a defeat at the hands of the Australians, she bounced back in her second and third Tie to secure the second spot in the group. Moving into the final of the event, Belgium goes on to meet four time
champions at the event United States.
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