Petr Pala praises the Team Czech Republic on their Federation Cup triumph – Tennis News
Czech Republic’s team has successfully retained the Federation Cup title by driving out relatively competent rivals from Serbia on Sunday. The victory was itself a clear cut message for all the tennis fanatics that the team of
Czech Republic worked extremely hard to repeat the heroics in two successive years.
The captain of the team, Petr Pala stated, “It's better to win three times in a row.” He giggled at the end of the sentence clearly portraying the satisfaction that he achieved after his strong team came on top at their home soil.
He further added, “We have a great team, the girls take each game with great responsibility, you can see how much they want to achieve something, and that makes the team strong.”
The team of Czech Republic consisted of the former Wimbledon Champion, Petra Kvitova, who led the 17th ranked Lucie Safarova and the doubles team of Andrea Hlavackova and Lucie Hradecka who are ranked third and fourth
respectively in the Women Tennis Association doubles rankings. Kvitova was on a 10 match unbeaten run at the Federation Cup and ousted the former world number one, Jelena Jankovic, in the second Round Rubber to make it 11. However, another former world number
one, Ana Ivanovic, ended her sublime run in kept the tie alive in the third Round Rubber.
The highlight of the tournament was the 17th ranked Lucie Safarova who dumped Ivanovic and Jankovic in the singles Rubber matches in straight sets to clinch the tie before it entered a do or die doubles contest. Safarova
said, “I thought, OK, it's going to be my turn this time.” Jubilant Kvitova added, “If the team and the locker room atmosphere remain the same as they have been this week and all those years I've been playing the Fed Cup, I think (a treble) is not impossible.
It really works with the girls who are here – there hasn't been a single problem since I joined the team.”
While rounding off the post victory press conference, Pala stated, “I always look forward to the week and the girls always make it very easy for me. It's a joy to lead this team, whatever the result.” Czech Republic is ranked the
best team as per the new list issued by the Federation Cup officials. It will be interesting to see if the dominant squad from this region can live up to the expectations for the third straight year.
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