Maria Sharapova has played only four Fed Cup ties, but her presence on the court could make all the difference as Russia take on holders the Czech Republic in the 2015 Final at the weekend.
The 28-year-old world No. 4 will likely face sixth-ranked Petra Kvitova and ninth-ranked Lucie Safarova, the left-handed duo who have led the Czechs to three Fed Cup titles from the last four editions.
“It’s a great way to finish off the year playing with two of the best players,” said Sharapova, a five-time Grand Slam winner, who was sidelined with leg and arm problems from July to October.
“It’s definitely a very new experience, I’ve been part of the team on different occasions, but never in the Final,” she said.
Sharapova returned to action at the WTA Tour Finals last month, where she lost to Kvitova in the semi-finals — after losing to Safarova at the French Open in June.
“I know how difficult an opponent they are and it will be a great challenge for me,” said Sharapova, called up alongside 23rd-ranked Ekaterina Makarova, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (28) and Elena Vesnina (111).
“We are coming into these finals as the underdogs,” she said.
Russian captain Anastasia Myskina said she was pleased to have Sharapova on the team, waving aside a decade-old rift between them over Sharapova’s father.
“Definitely it’s very important to have Maria on the team and I want to say thank you,” Myskina said.
The Czech team denied being the odds-on favorite.
“They have the highest-ranking player and a permanent doubles pair” of Vesnina and Makarova, Czech captain Petr Pala said.
“The chances are perfectly even,” added Pala, who has also nominated 11th-ranked Karolina Pliskova and world No. 41 Barbora Strycova.
The two nations have met five times in the Fed Cup before, but three of those meetings were between Czechoslovakia and the Soviet Union.
The Czech team lead their head-to-head record with Russia 3-2, including a victory in the 2011 Final in Moscow.
The Czechs have won the trophy eight times, including five victories as Czechoslovakia which went on to split into the Czech Republic and Slovakia in 1993.
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
Rafael Nadal on Wednesday said the upcoming French Open would be the moment to “give everything and die” on the court after his comeback from injury in Barcelona was curtailed by Alex de Minaur. The 22-time Grand Slam title winner, back playing this week after three months on the sidelines, battled well, but eventually crumbled 7-5, 6-1 against the world No. 11 from Australia in the second round. Nadal, 37, who missed virtually all of last season, is hoping to compete at the French Open next month where he is the record 14-time champion. The Spaniard said the clash with De Minaur was
RALLY: It was only the second time the Taiwanese has partnered with Kudermetova, and the match seemed tight until they won seven points in a row to take the last set 10-2 Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova on Sunday won the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix women’s doubles final in Stuttgart, Germany. The pair defeated Norway’s Ulrikke Eikeri and Estonia’s Ingrid Neel 4-6, 6-3, 10-2 in a tightly contested match at the WTA 500 tournament. Chan and Kudermetova fell 4-6 in the first set after having their serve broken three times, although they played increasingly well. They fought back in the second set and managed to break their opponents’ serve in the eighth game to triumph 6-3. In the tiebreaker, Chan and Kudermetova took a 3-0 lead before their opponents clawed back two points, but