Captain: Sharapova to Play '05 Fed Cup

Furious with Yuri, Myskina threatens not to play on team with Maria
'I don't want to be playing together, be in the same society, with people who don't respect me;'
Will injured Pierce play final v. Russia?

By Sandra Harwitt
Special to TennisReporters.net

Fred Mullane/Camerawork USA

Myskina says that Maria Sharapova's father, Yuri, has lost control.

FROM THE FED CUP FINAL IN MOSCOW – The Russian revolution is heating up and it's not between the Russians and the other players on the tour. No, this revolution is within the Russian Fed Cup team.

Anastasia Myskina has made it perfectly clear that she will not participate on any squad if Maria Sharapova is also invited on to the team. The remarks were intended to back up recent comments that Russian Fed Cup coach Larisa Savchenko Neiland had made to Reuters that Sharapova would not mesh well with the Russian team.

"I can tell you that I support everything that Larisa Savchenko had to say because it is not Maria's behavior, but the behavior of Maria Sharapova's father that is not correct," Myskina said of the reigning Wimbledon champion. "What he is doing out there in the stands is beyond what is acceptable and she should tell him. And I can say for sure that if Maria is part of the team, I will not be playing [Fed Cup] and that's all."

On Thursday, Myskina was equally as adamant that she hadn't had a change of heart over the past 24 hours, saying, "I don't want to renounce the words I said. I just don't want to play with people who don't respect me. I don't want to be playing together, be in the same society, with people who don't respect me."

It has never been a secret that Sharapova – who has lived in the United States since she was 6-years-old – is considered to be more American than Russian by a number of other Russian players. Nevertheless, as recently as the WTA Championships, Sharapova was saying that while she's lived in Florida for most of her life, she hasn't forgotten where she's from.

Those remarks, however, apparently don't weigh in very heavily with Myskina, who was very disturbed at the behavior of Sharapova's father at the season-ending Championships two weeks ago where he reportedly made rude hand gestures towards the other Russian players, cursed at them in Russian and laughed when Vera Zvonareva fell on the court.

However, Myskina also made her presence known at the Championships, cheering court side for Zvonareva against Sharapova, a very unusual sight when two players from the same nation are competing against each other.

Not long after the WTA Tour Championships, Savchenko Neiland made the following statement to Reuters that Sharapova would not work well with the team: "I don't think she'll find it easy being on the same team with all the rest of our girls. Maria's main problem is her father and I just don't see how he would coexist with other girls' parents and team officials. You can't just go by rankings alone in selecting the team. You need great team spirit, togetherness, in order to make a really strong squad. Every time Maria was playing a Russian girl (at the WTA Championships), her father's behavior was simply outrageous, nasty and out of control. He basically tells everyone 'to get lost.' I just don't see how he could work with the rest of us."

FEDERATION PRESIDENT SAYS MARIA IS ON 2005 TEAM
Ignoring Myskina's comments, Russian Tennis Federation President Shamil Tarpischev, who also happens to be the Fed Cup and Davis Cup captain confirmed that Sharapova, the reigning Wimbledon champion who also won the year-end Championships two weeks ago, will compete for Russia next year.

"We spoke with her about this [playing Fed Cup] even before Roland Garros in the light of the upcoming Olympics," Tarpischev said. "But then we decided that she was very young and we are aware that she grew up a lot and is a very tall young lady and we said she should take it easy this year and not be playing in the year 2004 for the Russian team. But starting next year she will be playing."

Tarpischev basically dismissed Myskina's remarks as being said in the heat of the moment, seemingly suggesting that he expects she'll show up for action if called to play. "Actually, I think this was just an emotional outburst as far as Sharapova's father," Tarpischev said. "Also I don't think we can talk about the conflict between Myskina and Sharapova as players. Of course, I don't think it will have a big impact on the relationship on the players. Sure, the father interferes, but it is the task of the team captain to make sure all the players are compatible with each other. And what was said by Anastasia was an emotional statement and I don't think it will have any impact on the players."

As for US Open champion Svetlana Kuznetsova, she is smartly choosing not to get involved in the Sharapova controversy, saying, "Actually, Sharapova is very popular right now and that is why people are looking for some intrigue to write about, some conflict. We are a team and I am not going to tell our captain whom he should pick up as a player for the national team. I think we will have as strong a team as ever and a rather cohesive team as well."

Despite a shoulder injury, Mary Pierce has been practicing hard.

Will injured Pierce play final v. Russia?
After taking a 5-0 victory over Austria in the semifinals, the Russian's had hit a landmark number – having played 100 Fed Cup ties, winning 70 and losing 30. The French defeated Spain with an equally impressive 5-0 victory in the semifinals, but did the Russians one better by not surrendering a set in the semifinals. Kuznetsova offered Yvonne Meusburger a gift of one set in their match.

French Fed Cup Captain Guy Forget has been saying all week that Mary Pierce is unlikely to be ready to play in the two-day final against Russia that begins on Saturday, stating that she wanted to come along to Moscow to support the team but understood that her lack of recent play because of a shoulder injury would most probably keep her sidelined during the competition.

Despite Forget's forecast, Myskina was not buying that Pierce won't be playing in the final. After disappointingly failing to reach the Fed Cup final last year here in Moscow, where they were defeated by France, the Russians have lived up to their billing, by beating an unheralded Austrian squad.

"We know for sure that Pierce is practicing very hard. We saw her practice," Myskina said. "Even though the French team is trying to conceal this we do know that she is training hard and the fact that she is practicing so hard at the end of the year means she will be included in the lineup of the French team. And I think that the addition of Pierce to the French team will give confidence to our opponent."