Heard Around

by Savannah


Don't tell Maria Sharapova's agent but apparently the idea that black is beautiful has hit Asia.

The Cups - Davis and Fed

Todd Woodbridge is blasting the ITF for it's certification that India is safe enough for the Davis Cup tie between that country and Australia to be held.

Australia’s most capped Davis Cup player has accused the International Tennis Federation of being irresponsible for insisting the May 8-10 Davis Cup match against India go ahead as planned in Chennai.

Todd Woodbridge, who helped Australia win the Davis Cup and played in a national-record 32 matches, said the ITF shouldn’t expect the match to go ahead in Chennai when other international sports events were being canceled or moved abroad due to regional tensions.

“The main thing right now in India is that there are elections underway—there’s been deaths because of these elections in other parts of India, not in Chennai where this tie will be played,” Woodbridge told Fairfax Radio on Wednesday. “But how can we expect our team to go and play in India when everybody else in that region is pulling out?

“I think it’s irresponsible for the ITF to expect us as players to go there and put ourselves on the line in a very, very difficult predicament with the way their social system’s running.”
(...)
Australia has again appealed that decision.

Woodbridge, who retired in 2005 after winning an ATP record 83 men’s doubles titles, including 16 at Grand Slams and the 1996 Olympic gold medal, said Australia risked a ban if it opted out of the Asia-Oceania zonal match against India, and that could end former top-ranked Lleyton Hewitt’s chances of representing his country again.

Lleyton Hewitt has already pulled out saying that this is the European clay court season and that it would be too much for him to practice on hard courts and go back to the dirt.

Meanwhile the Fed Cup is being held this weekend. Good luck to all the women playing. I don't think the United States team is going to do so well though. I hope I'm wrong.

WORLD GROUP SEMIFINALS

ITALY v RUSSIA
Venue: Nova Yardinia, Castellaneta Marina, ITA (clay – outdoors)

Italy
Flavia Pennetta
Francesca Schiavone
Sara Errani
Roberta Vinci
Captain: Corrado Barazzutti

Russia
Vera Zvonareva
Svetlana Kuznetsova
Nadia Petrova
Anna Chakvetadze
Captain: Shamil Tarpischev

CZECH REPUBLIC v USA
Venue: Starobrno Rondo Arena, Brno, CZE (carpet – indoors)

Czech Republic
Iveta Benesova
Petra Kvitova
Lucie Safarova
Kveta Peschke
Captain: Petr Pala

USA
Bethanie Mattek-Sands
Liezel Huber
Melanie Oudin
Alexa Glatch
Captain: Mary-Joe Fernandez

WORLD GROUP PLAY-OFFS

SPAIN v SERBIA
Venue: Club de Tennis Lleida, Lleida, ESP (clay - outoors)

Spain
Anabel Medina Garrigues
Maria-Jose Martinez Sanchez
Lourdes Dominguez-Lino
Nuria Llagostera Vives
Captain: Miguel Margets

Serbia
Jelena Jankovic
Ana Ivanovic
Ana Jovanovic
Alexandra Krunic
Captain: Dejan Vranes

FRANCE v SLOVAK REPUBLIC
Venue: Palais des Sports Beaublanc, Limoges, FRA (clay – indoors)

France
Alize Cornet
Amelie Mauresmo
Nathalie Dechy
Mathilde Johansson
Captain: Nicolas Escude

Slovak Republic
Dominika Cibulkova
Daniela Hantuchova
Magdalena Rybarikova
Lenka Wienerova
Captain: Matej Liptak

GERMANY v CHINA, P.R.
Venue: Frankfurter TC 1914 Palmengarten, Frankfurt, GER (clay - outdoors)

Germany
Sabine Lisicki
Anna-Lena Groenefeld
Kristina Barrois
Tatjana Malek
Captain: Barbara Rittner

China, P.R.
Jie Zheng
Peng Shuai
Jing-Jing Lu
Tian-Tian Sun
Captain: Qi Zhang

ARGENTINA v UKRAINE
Venue: Club Nautico, Mar del Plata, ARG (clay – outdoors)

Argentina
Betina Jozami
Jorgelina Cravero
Aranza Salut
Paula Ormaechea
Captain: Ricardo Rivera

Ukraine
Alona Bondarenko
Kateryna Bondarenko
Mariya Koryttseva
Olga Savchuk
Captain: Volodymyr Bogdanov

WORLD GROUP II PLAY-OFFS

BELGIUM v CANADA
Venue: Grenslandhallen - Ethias Arena, Hasselt, BEL (clay – indoors)

Belgium
Yanina Wickmayer
Kirsten Flipkens
Tamaryn Hendler
An-Sophie Mestach
Captain: Sabine Appelmans

Canada
Aleksandra Wozniak
Stephanie Dubois
Sharon Fichman
Valerie Tetreault
Captain: Rene Collins

ESTONIA v ISRAEL
Venue: Tondi Tennis Club, Tallinn, EST (hard – indoors)

Estonia
Kaia Kanepi
Maret Ani
Margit Ruutel
Anett Schutting
Captain: Rene Busch

Israel
Shahar Peer
Tzipi Obziler
Julia Glushko
Keren Shlomo
Captain: Lior Mor

POLAND v JAPAN
Venue: Tenisowy Klub Sportowy Arka, Gdynia, POL (clay - outdoors)

Poland
Agnieszka Radwanska
Urszula Radwanska
Alicja Rosolska
Klaudia Jans
Captain: Tomasz Wiktorowski

Japan
Ai Sugiyama
Ayumi Morita
Rika Fujiwara
Akiko Morigami
Captain: Takeshi Murakami

AUSTRALIA v SWITZERLAND
Venue: Mildura Lawn Tennis Club, Mildura, AUS (grass - outdoors)

Australia
Samantha Stosur
Jelena Dokic
Jessica Moore
Rennae Stubbs
Captain: David Taylor

Switzerland
Stefanie Voegele
Nicole Riner
Mateja Kraljevic
Amra Sadikovic
Captain: Christiane Jolissaint