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THE tennisreporters.net NEWSLETTER: Sunday, APRIL
25, NO, 82
The winds of victory: Raymond
guts it out over Slovenia
Venus: ‘It was a perfect tie
for Zina'
Martina: ‘With the energy Lisa felt from the bench, we weren't
going to let her get down'
By Matthew Cronin
tennisreporters.net
Fred Mullane/Camerawork USA |
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Lisa Raymond defeated Katarina Srebotnik
to clinch the US' victory over Slovenia.
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FROM FED CUP IN PORTOROZ, SLOVENIA –
In case you were wondering, Lisa Raymond didn't almost choke
away the deciding match of the US' first round victory over
Slovenia. She more than earned her 5-7, 6-3, 6-4 victory over Katarina
Srebotnik to clinch the tie 3-1, as her opponent was zoning for
much of the match.
"Lisa won it with all guts and heart," US captain Zina
Garrison said. "She took one for the team."
The 30-year-old hung in the contest until her fingernails grew bloody
and it wasn't until the last three games of the match that
the tide began to swing her way. A gusty wind off the gorgeous yet
forceful Adriatic Sea did far more damage to Srebotnik's service
toss than it did Raymond's and all those balls that seemed
to skid or deaden on her side of the court took a visit to the Slovenian's
side.
No, it was not pure luck. Raymond's victory was mostly guts
combined with some heartfelt support from the US contingent on the
sidelines (just image hearing Venus Williams chant L-I-S-A at the
top of her lungs) and a fair amount of solid coaching tips from
the cool and collected US captain Zina Garrison.
"It's such a different atmosphere than when you playing
an individual tournament," Raymond said. "You feel the
weight of an entire county on your shoulders. When she hit a winner,
the place would just erupt. I don't think there any more of
an adrenaline high than that. When you win it's the most amazing
feeling, because you are winning for your team."
Garrison is thanking her lucky stars
that Venus made the trip, because the elder Williams made mincemeat
out of the Slovenian team, wasting Srebotnik on day one and then
after playing possibly the worst opening game of her career (she
actually fanned on an overhead on game point), she was nearly error-less
in her 6-3, 6-1 wipeout of Tina Pisnik that gave the US a 2-1 lead.
DOUBLES TEAM COULD HAVE BEEN CHANGED
We may never know if Garrison would
have asked Venus to play doubles if Raymond had lost again (she
fell to Pisnik on day one), but it must have crossed her mind when
Raymond went down a break and 3-4 in the third set. Venus and Martina
Navratilova have never played together before, but Venus is a multiple-Slam
champ and Olympic gold medallist in doubles and could have willed
them to victory all by herself.
Even so, Garrison would have likely stuck with Raymond/Navratilova
because if she would have pulled Raymond, emotions may have gotten
out of hand at a later date.
But Garrison didn't have to make that decision because she helped
keep Raymond's head in her singles match. This is the same Raymond
who was 0-3 on clay in Fed Cup singles entering the contest, having
suffered losses to Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario and Conchita Martinez
in Spain in '98, and to Tina Pisnik here on Saturday.
Fred Mullane/
Camerawork USA |
| Martina
Navratilova and Lisa Raymond were Zina Garrison's pick
to play for the United States. |
The tall Srebotnik is not without talent,
and was pasting big forehand winners much of the day. She has a
very good first serve and quite a solid volley and was producing
more winners than Raymond was on her home crushed orange brick.
The key points were the Slovenian's hands in the first set and when
Srebotnik held three break points at 3-2 in the second, the feeling
around the grounds was the tie would go down to the doubles. But
Raymond fought them off, held and in the next game, and then caught
a huge break when she mis-hit a drop shot return on break point
that bounced wickedly away from Srebotnik to give her a 4-3 lead.
Raymond won the second, but was broken to 2-1 in the third when
the she committed a backhand unforced error. Raymond broke back
to 3-3, but with the clay flying in her eyes due to the wind, was
broken back to 3-4 when she double faulted.
But Zina and company wouldn't let her sink into the clay.
"It makes it a lot easier to put yourself on the line when
you know your team is behind you," said Garrison.
Navratilova added, "I don't
know if Lisa would have stayed with it if this was a regular tournament.
With the energy she felt from the bench, we weren't going to let
her get down. It was tough because the conditions were horrendous.
Even when you play a great point, you still feel like it's ugly.
Lisa gutted it out big time."
Raymond broke back to 4-4 on her fourth break point when she whipped
a backhand passing shot down the line.
"It's funny because my nature is calm but inside I was going
a 100 mph," Garrison said. "But I really had faith if
she could just hand in there and get that one lucky break that would
help. That backhand, she just flicked it. That was the turning point.
I told her this was her match, don't let it go."
Raymond held to 5-4 and in the match's final game, hit two forehand
crosscourt passes, saw one another one of her returns take a bad
bounce and eat up Srebotnik and on the last point, watched Srebotnik
double fault.
Her face was sheer joy and she hugged everyone in sight. Doubts
were omnipresent in her mind, but she crushed them.
Fred Mullane/Camerawork USA |
| Katarina
Srebotnik's racket was out of control. |
"I was hearing everyone saying, 'C'mon,
just gut this through.' This whole weekend wasn't an example of
my best tennis, but I competed until the end," Raymond said.
You can win matches and titles with that type of heart and I did
that today. I just dug deep. It was a lot more heart out there than
tennis. This is certainly a memory I will always cherish."
venus romps, says she will play
against austria
Without getting too deeply into Williams for the third straight
day, suffice to say that she is a very heady player now who is making
huge strides in her game. Pisnik had wrenched her neck in the morning
practice, but played brilliantly early on as she said later, the
score might have been the same whether she was hurt or not. From
the middle of the first set on, Williams was patient, played deep
and those wondrous drop-shot lob combos that Pisnik was working
early on ceased to matter, as Venus swarmed the net and possible
didn't miss a volley all day.
Zina picked up Pisnik's tendencies and whispered them into Venus'
ear. That was all Venus needed.
"There is so much you can learn
when they are on the side of the court that you can't see, because
they've been there and they have outside view," Williams said.
"It's a continuing learning process. We talk about the patterns
and some of the things I didn't see. A lot of things I do see but
it's impossible to see everything in the heat of the moment. Zina's
not overbearing at all. It was the perfect tie for her."
Perfect for learning and sweating it on the sidelines, no doubt.
Now the US team must travel to Austria and show up again on red
clay, some 12 days after Wimbledon. The last time the two nations
faced each other, in April '02, the US went down in orange flames
on green clay in Charlotte. The Barbara's – Schett and Schwartz
– will be waiting. The question for Garrison is whether she
will be able to convince her big guns to play.
Venus said that she will make herself available for the US'
quarterfinal, saying she had improved during the week and really
likes the team environment.
But she and Serena will undoubtedly go deep at Wimbledon again so
Garrison might have to convince Lindsay Davenport (who told Garrison
she is interested), Chanda Rubin or even possible Monica Seles to
take up the cause. That tie is going to be rougher than Slovenia.
"Venus really likes the camaraderie and she told me she understands
that it's not just about her or Martina, it's everyone
working together. That was pretty professional of her. But I just
hope that all the American women stay healthy. That's the
biggest thing on the women's tour right now, who going to
stay healthy? We need to take notes from Martina."
The goal, of course, is for the US to wins its 18th Fed Cup title.
It's been four years now since they raised the big trophy
and if all the top players commit, they should be able to hang with
any nation on any surface.
"It's a really competitive group and we really want that Cup
back," Garrison said. |
