Official Team Nominations for 2008 Final The ITF has announced the team nominations for the 2008 Fed Cup by BNP Paribas World Group Final to be played on 13-14 September in Madrid.
Spain
Anabel Medina Garrigues
Carla Suarez-Navarro
Nuria Llagostera Vives
Virginia Ruano-Pascual
Captain: Miguel Margets Lobato
Russia
Svetlana Kuznetsova
Vera Zvonareva
Elena Vesnina
Ekaterina Makarova
Captain: Shamil Tarpishchev
(Under Fed Cup regulations, each team may change up to two of its nominations up to one hour before the draw)
This is the 46th Fed Cup Final and the first time that these two nations have met at the last stage. Russia has a 4-1 lead in the head-to-head record, with the most recent meeting being in 2007 at the Small Sports Arena ‘Luzhniki’ in Moscow. The Russians won that first round tie 5-0, but there’s no doubting that the Spanish team are a lot stronger now.
On paper, even without Maria Sharapova, Dinara Safina, Elena Dementieva and Nadia Petrova, the Russians still have a strong line-up with two of their four players ranked in the Top 10. In addition, there pedigree is unrivalled as they are No.1 in the Fed Cup rankings and have won the title twelve times.
World No. 4 Svetlana Kuznetsova will head the Russian team, along with No. 10 and Olympic bronze medallist Vera Zvonareva, who is in exceptional form at the moment. Elena Vesnina played in last years final, but not in a live rubber, and has 4-3 win-loss Fed Cup record. The final member of the team, Ekaterina Makarova, is a Fed Cup debutante and has a current world ranking of 56.
So with the Russian team not being as strong as they might have been, Spain do indeed have a real chance in this final, not least in the doubles, where Virginia Ruano Pascal and Anabel Medina Garrigues picked up a silver medal at the Olympics in Beijing. It also has to be noted that Nuria Llagostera Vives and Medina Garrigues are both unbeaten in Fed Cup singles matches in 2008. Also, with the home support at the Club de Campo – Villa de Madrid and the ‘feel good’ factor of all that is Spanish tennis at the moment with Rafael Nadal riding high as the world No. 1, it will be a fascinating weekend.
You will be able to follow all the action here on www.watch-live-tennis.com, through live streaming video, live ball-by-ball commentary on www.watch-live-tennis.com Radio. There will of course be all the usual photos, news and interviews, as well as scorecards and stats.
