For now, no Eugenie Bouchard on the Fed Cup squad named to face the Czechs
MELBOURNE – Wednesday is the deadline for Fed Cup countries to announce their team nominations, 10 days before the World Group and zonal ties taking place around the globe.
Victoria Azarenka is playing for Belarus. Simona Halep is leading Romania. Serena Williams, Venus Williams and Madison Keys are headed down to Buenos Aires to take on Argentina.
Canada will play the reigning champion Czech Republic in Quebec City Feb. 7 and 8. And once again, the question of whether top star Genie Bouchard, who reached the quarter-finals at the Australian Open before losing to Maria Sharapova on Tuesday, will take part.
A year ago, Bouchard was mere minutes away from walking on court in Montreal to face Serbia when everything finally was signed, sealed and delivered.
It appears it might come down to the wire once again, as Tennis Canada has announced only a three-woman squad – with a fourth member to be named at a later date. Adding a fourth player, per ITF rules, will count as one of the two official substitutions a team is allowed for each tie.
The three players officially nominated are Sharon Fichman, Gabriela Dabrowski, and 17-year-old Françoise Abanda.
Without Bouchard, Canada has a major challenge on its hands. On the positive side, the Czechs have already announced their two stalwart Fed Cup performers, Petra Kvitova and Lucie Safarova, are skipping this one.
Safarova is in the women's doubles finals in Melbourne with partner Bethanie Mattek-Sands.
The Czechs will bring Karolina Pliskova (ranked No. 20), Tereza Smitkova (No. 68), Denisa Allertova (No. 107) and veteran Lucie Hradecka, an accomplished doubles player.
“Even without Petra Kvitova and Lucie Safarova, the Czech team is still very dangerous, Canadian Fed Cup captain Sylvain Bruneau said in a statement. “They chose to go with youth. Karolina Pliskova and Tereza Smitkova are two rising stars in women’s tennis and they deserve all of our respect. The most important thing for our team is to prepare the best way possible so that we are ready for some really tough battles on February 7 and 8.”
Why Bouchard is so non-committal about Fed Cup is a question only she can answer. She has evoked the rigours of the WTA Tour schedule, and in her press conference after the loss to Sharapova she made light of the decision, which obviously affects more than just her.
"Well, I don't know if I'm playing or not," she said, in response to a question about whether she was looking forward to it.
Bouchard then looked over at her new agent, Jill Smoller, and asked, "Am I playing, Jill?"
Smoller shrugged.
"Well, I'm going to go visit the family, that's for sure. Take some time off, rest the body a bit," Bouchard continued.
It was consistent with her response every time she has been asked about Fed Cup, from a pair of interviews on the French-language sports networks in Quebec when she was home in November, to an interview with Eh Game just before the Australian Open began.
"That's something I was going to decide after the tournament. You know, my tournament ended like half an hour ago, so I'm still going to talk to my team and make the best decision for me if I can play or not," Bouchard said Tuesday.
From the looks of it, she still hasn't made her decision.
Bouchard is likely on her way home, after spending a little quality time with her band of devoted Aussie fans, the Genie Army, Tuesday night.
The 20-year-old was the leader of the squad over the last two years, the catalyst that allowed the Canadians to defeat both Serbia and the Slovak Republic last year to earn a promotion into World Group I, which is reserved for the top eight nations in women's tennis.
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