THE TennisReporters.net NEWSLETTER: WEDNesDAY, novemBER 24, No. 105

Did Amelie pull out because France
didn't bid hard for the Fed Cup final?
Mauresmo's Fed Cup defection disappoints coach; Forget: 'Tennis is penalized by it'
French rookie Golovin returns to Russia for first time since infancy

By Sandra Harwitt
Special to TennisReporters.net

Art Seitz

Amelie Mauresmo competed in LA but dropped out of the Fed Cup finals week in Moscow.

FROM THE FED CUP SEMIS IN MOSCOW – A week before traveling to Moscow, French Fed Cup Captain Guy Forget was looking ahead to leading his squad in defense of their Fed Cup crown. Surely, Forget knew that beating the Russian squad, boasting the presence of Roland Garros champ Anastasia Myskina and US Open champ Svetlana Kuznetsova, would be a challenging task. But, with Amelie Mauresmo, who reached the No. 1 ranking in the world for the first time in her career this fall, and Mary Pierce on board – the same line-up that worked wonders in 2003 right here in Moscow – Forget was feeling optimistic.

Then Mauresmo threw Forget a major curve ball, telling him just a day after she lost to Serena Williams in the season-ending WTA Tour Championships in Los Angeles, that she had decided to take a pass on joining the French team in Moscow for the finals. In truth, the fact that Mauresmo was opting out of Fed Cup was not a total shock, but her timing in terms of waiting to the last minute was disturbing for Forget.

Mauresmo had been vocal about her extreme disappointment that the French Tennis Federation did not put in anything close to a reasonable bid to host the semifinal/final Fed Cup round. Forget admits that he believes that this factor was partially responsible for Mauresmo's no-show in Moscow.

"To some extent, yes, but I'm not going to say it's the main reason," Forget told TennisReporters.net regarding Mauresmo's pull-out from Fed Cup only 10 days ago. "I think she was upset. Even at one stage I heard rumors that they [the team] were thinking about not showing up to protest and I told them that I didn't think that was a wise idea. I was going to go anyway with who was going to come. I think that Amelie, she is looking for next year for the Slams and she thought this was another match. But, she has said, had this been in France she would have played, she would have not thought about not coming.

"Yes, I'm disappointed because I think the team would have been a lot better and I think we would have had a good chance of, maybe, winning again. But I think that for tennis, which is more important than my own team, it would have been great, with her beating the Russians at the Masters [year-end WTA Championships two weeks ago], to have another match here which would have been like revenge matches, would be great. If we lose that is bad and the Russians will say the girls we beat we are a lot better than. So, overall, I think it is tennis that is penalized by it."

It's hard to blame any of the French squads' desire to orchestrate the defense of their Fed Cup crown on home turf. Certainly, Forget would have liked an opportunity to be playing back in France.

"I think this place is wonderful and I'm kind of jealous because I wish we could have a place to play like this in France," Forget said. "I'm going to be honest with you; I would have liked to play at least once against Russia at home. We've played Russia five times and the last five times, we've never played them at home. We played them four times here and once in Spain. But the organization has been really, really good and you can't argue with the fact that this has been very, very nice. It's not my decision to come here. We try our best, and the girls are here, and they are really proud to play for their country."

For her part, the charming Nathalie Dechy seemed uncomfortable discussing Mauresmo's decision, but admitted that the team had forewarning that the top French woman might not come to Moscow. "I cannot say what she was thinking," Dechy said. "I was not surprised because this was a decision we knew about it, that she could not play. We knew she was kind of wondering if she would play or not" [before she told Forget she definitely was not playing on Monday, Nov. 15].

Fred Mullane/Camerawork USA

Moscow-born Tatiana Golovin returns to the mother country after leaving Russia as an infant.

Golovin glows during Fed Cup singles debut
This week marks a return to her roots for newly minted French Fed Cup competitor Tatiana Golovin, who's making her first visit back to Moscow, the city of her birth, since she left here for France as an infant with her family.

"This is the first time – I left at eight months – that I have come back," said Golovin, 16, who speaks fluent Russian, French and English. "We haven't had much time to visit anything, but it just feels good to be back to where you were born. But I don't really think about it because to me, it's just another country. I'm really focusing on Fed Cup more than anything."

And on top of returning to her original homeland, Golovin's singles debut in Fed Cup semifinal competition turned into a resounding success when she scored a 6-3, 6-3 victory over Anabel Medina Garrigues of Spain on Wednesday.

Golovin instantaneously became a formidable member of France's Fed Cup title defense efforts here in Moscow with the announcement that Mauresmo would not compete on the team, and when Mary Pierce, who is here in Moscow, couldn't play because of a sore shoulder. "I was excited most of all," Golovin said. "I'm really happy to be here and really happy to bring the first point to France. Obviously, I was a little nervous at the beginning because it was a different atmosphere for me. But with Guy [Forget] here, all the supporters out there and the staff, it was just really exciting to be out there."

Golovin has made quite a statement this year and it is not only due to the tightly-fitting, low-on-the-hips, short shorts she wears on the court. In January, when Tennis Australia awarded the French teen a wildcard entry into the Australian Open, she was ranked No. 365 in the world. Now, by virtue of impressive results this year – she reached her first career tournament final at Birmingham, the semifinals at the Paris Indoors, the quarterfinals of Montreal and Luxembourg, and the fourth round at the Australian Open, Wimbledon and the NASDAQ-100 Open – Golovin is currently ranked No. 27.

"I had very good preparation last year which is why I improved so much," said Golovin, explaining her dramatic rise to the forefront of the game this year. "But I still think there's much more I can do. There's so many things I still have to work on. But for me to be Top 30, it's really exciting and has been a great year. Physically I have to get stronger. In terms of my game, I have to get more aggressive. Right now, all the top players are playing from the baseline. But if you really want to be great, you have to be able move around the court, come in, change the pace."

Now a naturalized French citizen, Golovin spent her formative years developing her game at the Nick Bollettieri Academy in Bradenton, Fla., from the age of 7 to 14. While her father, Gregori, a former ice hockey coach, was supposed to accompany Tatiana to Moscow and is still due to arrive later in the week, her mother, Lioudmila, was busy helping one of her older sisters, who just had a baby.

Not bashful as to what she is hoping the future holds, Tatiana acknowledges, "Winning Grand Slams … to me that's really important. And also to represent your country is very important."

Forget likes where her game is headed.

"For the last three years she has been improving constantly in every possible way," Forget said. "Now, I think, she is going to get to the stage where it is more and more difficult because now the girls that she's going to play against are strong just like her, have more experience and are technically strong. I know that she is ambitious and she is aiming for the Top 10. She is ready to work and she hates to lose, which is a good quality, and she has a margin for improvement. Tactically, she could do a lot more things than what she's doing at the moment. It's very impressive to see a young girl playing so well already."