Translated material
Spanish sadness
The Russians won the Federation Cup for the second time in a row
Russian tennis players won the Federation Cup team trophy for the fourth time. In Madrid, on a foreign field, they won an early victory over the Spanish team, winning the first three singles matches. The remaining two matches - singles and doubles - could no longer influence the outcome of the final.Captain Shamil Tarpishchev's wards - Svetlana Kuznetsova, Vera Zvonareva, Elena Vesnina and Ekaterina Makarova - flew to Madrid as current trophy holders and favorites. Unlike their Spanish rivals, the Russian quartet included two athletes from the top ten of the world rankings - Kuznetsova and Zvonareva.
The status of our team was clearly confirmed by the first day of competition. On Saturday, on the clay court of the capital's Club de Campo Villa de Madrid stadium, the Russian national team took the lead - 2:0. The first point for the team was brought by the bronze medalist of the Beijing Olympics, Vera Zvonareva, who beat the leader of the Spanish team, Anabel Medina-Garrigues - 6:3, 6:1. The main problem for Zvonareva was the transition from hard court to clay, since all recent tournaments, including the Olympics and US Open, were played on fast surfaces. However, the Spaniards, as hosts of the tournament, chose the slower ground they preferred.
This made preparations for the match somewhat difficult. All Russian athletes did not hide the fact that the Fed Cup final, due to this circumstance, is very inconveniently on the calendar. And while Svetlana Kuznetsova trained on clay in Barcelona for a week before the final, Zvonareva did not have many days left to adapt. In addition, as the Russian woman herself admitted, she had not played with Medina-Garrigues for a long time, and therefore it took time to get used to her opponent. Before the first match, Zvonareva consulted with Kuznetsova and her coach, who thoroughly knew the Spaniard and how to play with her. “But I had to go out on the court and deal with it all myself. Did I have doubts about the outcome of the match? There were doubts about the execution of every blow. But seriously, the responsibility is very high, and I had to constantly give my best,” Zvonareva commented after the match.
This fight became the key moment of the entire final. And indeed, the leader of the Russian team, Svetlana Kuznetsova, who entered the court after Zvonareva, defeated the young Spaniard Carla Suarez-Navarro in less than an hour - 6:3, 6:1. True, despite the transience and the result, this match left a double impression. On the one hand, Kuznetsova herself said that due to the difference in class with her opponent, she had the impression that she was playing with herself. On the other hand, Svetlana could not call this fight one of the best in her career. Indeed, during the meeting, there were inexplicable changes in the Russians’ game, which caused some fears before the next game.
Indeed, Kuznetsova’s Sunday match with Medina-Garrigues made Russian fans quite nervous. Leading 5:2 in the first set, Kuznetsova gave the initiative to her opponent and allowed her to win the first set - 7:5. True, she then redeemed herself in the second game, winning 6:3, and in the decisive third game she kept the audience in suspense until the very last game. With the score 3:1, Kuznetsova, for some unknown reason, again gave the Spaniard the opportunity to equalize the score, then she still took two games in a row - 5:3. However, at the end of the game, Anabel reduced the gap from the Russian to a minimum - 4:5. Nevertheless, Kuznetsova, whose play has recently raised many questions, managed to bring the match to its logical conclusion and put a winning point in this final.
After the decisive match, Kuznetsova did not hide the fact that she herself gave her opponent many chances. “Of course, I didn’t show perfect tennis, but nevertheless, our victory is the most important thing,” she said. By the way, on the eve of the final, Svetlana said that she needed to change something in her tennis and for this in the new season she would work with a new coach Olga Morozova. Morozova, in turn, confirmed that Shamil Tarpishchev asked her to help Kuznetsova, and this issue has been resolved. “We have agreed on everything, but we will begin to fully cooperate only after the end of the season, in November,” Morozova said. The coach added that she does not intend to change the athlete’s technique, since Kuznetsova plays at a high level. Her task as a mentor is to improve the game of her ward and try to ensure that Svetlana fully reveals her talent.
Let us remember that from the age of 14 Kuznetsova trained in Barcelona, Spain at the Arantha Sanchez-Vicario Academy. But now, according to the tennis player, she has made the final decision to move to Russia. Although it is clear that a busy competition schedule will not allow her to spend much time in the city on the Neva. Kuznetsova flies from Madrid to the tournament in Tokyo, which starts this week.
Meanwhile, the draw for the 2009 Federation Cup matches took place recently. The Russians will play their next match at home against the Chinese on February 7-8.