Russian Maria Sharapova will debut in Fed Cup
World number thirteen, Maria Sharapova of Russia, will be featuring in a Fed Cup match representing Russia. After such a long time in professional tennis, Maria will be playing in the Russian team for the first time in a match against
France this weekend on the hard courts of the Olympic indoor stadium in Russia.
The president of Russian Tennis Federation reflected in a press conference that Sharapova has agreed to lead the Russian team in the Fed Cup against France. The former world number one showed keenness to forget the strained relationships
she had with her compatriot players and will step in court to fight for her country. She has completely recovered from her shoulder injury and is in good form for a tough competition.
The thirteenth seed will be teaming up with former Grand Slam champion Svetlana Kuznetsova to take on a relatively less experienced French team. The twenty third seed Kuznetsova has an 18-6 record in 11 matches while playing for Russia.
She was also part of the team which outplayed the French team by 3-2 in 2008 to win the first Fed Cup title for Russia. Former world number one Dinara Safina will also be part of the Russian squad.
Sharapova made her Fed Cup debut in 2008 when she won two matches playing against Israel in the first round. She was not welcomed by the local crowd who wanted to see their home team win. One of the spectators at Ramat Hasharon even threw
food at her while she was playing on the court.
“That was a perfect experience for me," said Sharapova, "I think mentally it will be much easier this time. The crowd will cheer for us and no one will be throwing walnuts.”
The Russians have been victorious in the last two French-Russian encounters. They remained unbeaten on their own soil since 2003 when they lost to France in the semi-final. Russia has won all of the eight events which took on its soil.
France has won the Fed Cup twice before, in 1997 and 2003. The French team is lacking the expertise of 15 seed Marion Bartoli and 21st
seed Aravane Rezai in their team who are not playing this time. Rezai has refused to play the cup because of a scandal which involved one of her family members.
The current combination of the French team includes Aliz Cornet, Virginie Razzano, Pauline Parmentier and Julie Coin. The Russian team appears to be more superior on paper than the French team does. All four members of the Russian squad
have defeated the French contestant at singles events on different occasions. Aliz Cornet, the leader of the French, will certainly be trying to uplift the spirits of her team players and bring confidence in them. “The Russian team is really strong," said
Nicola Escude, the former French player, "Our players work hard and they are ready to challenge the Russians.”
It the first time the Russians are going to play on their home surface since 2009, when they devastated the Chinese 5-0. The first title bagged by Russia was in 2008 and since then, its team cruised to semi-finals every time.
The winner of the two will be taking on either Australia or the champion Italian team in mid-April.
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