The next round of the Fed Cup by BNP Paribas competition kicks off next weekend, but several stars are missing from their nation’s official rosters.
Should participation in Fed Cup be made mandatory? Tell us your opinion in this week’s edition of Open Forum Friday!
Once again, Team USA will head for a tie without its two biggest stars, Venus and Serena Williams. Zina Garrison couldn’t convince them to play regularly during her tenure as coach, and now Mary Joe Fernandez is having the same experience.
In stark contrast, Russia routinely suffers from an embarrassment of riches when it comes to its player roster. Shamil Tarpischev never lacks from interested players and often, he leaves Top 10 players on the sidelines because his biggest stars consider it an honor to be asked to play for their country.
That leads us to today’s discussion questions.
Should the ITF require players in the Top 100 to make themselves available for one Fed Cup tie each season?
Fed Cup participation is mandatory for Olympic eligibility, but is playing once for your nation every four years too small of a patriotic commitment? Leave us a comment with your opinion!
Have a great weekend, everyone!
Fed Cup should not be mandatory – not even for Olympic eligibility.
Honour works both ways, and players should not be forced to be patriotic, for they are specific individuals striving for personal glory.
Why should someone like Caroline Wozniacki – who is #12 in the world, but Denmark’s only top-400 player – be forced to play Fed Cup, while half the Russians in the top ten won’t be needed for their country?
Shouldn’t be mandatory, but maybe there should be more incentive to play?
I agree – although the incentive couldn’t take the form of ranking-points, as it wouldn’t be fair.
Incentives would go far to help boost popularity, but I agree with Andrew that ranking points would not be fair as some players, such as those from Russia, don’t even get a chance to volunteer.
I’d like to see Fed Cup reach a higher level of importance on the calendar and wonder what would happen if the tournament changed to a format similar to the Hopman Cup—a one week event.
I don’t think that playing in Fed Cup should be mandatory for anyone, but it’s a shame that some of the contests aren’t more competitive. Some nations take Fed Cup more seriously than others, to be sure. I don’t know what the solution is, since I like the present tie format.