Yeah, it sucks real bad. Alabama is no more "tennis country" than Texas. Probably less--hell, Navratilova acquired a girlfriend here back in the day. lol! Seriously, we have name tennis installations at New Braunfels & in the Houston area. What's Alabama got? I figure this deal of taking Fed Cup & Davis Cup there is a matter of greasing up some particular USTA official or something.

Oh well, so what options do we have? Site shows only:

Birmingham-Jefferson Convention Complex Arena (BJCC Arena), Birmingham, USA
Stadium Capacity: 5,500
24 April - 25 April 2010
Day 1: 1400hrs EST (1900hrs GMT) tbc
Day 2: 1400hrs EST (1900hrs GMT) tbc
Surface: Hard (Premier) - Indoors

Host broadcaster will most certainly be The Tennis Channel. IF there's a "Veetle" TTC stream at the time, that will be the best viewing option from anywhere in the world, actually. No extra help from the Italians on this one--SuperTennis & RIA will be focused on their semi with the Czechs earlier in the day. BUT, TTC sells a lotta stream to Eurosport and, as the Russia/USA tie will be in the evening in Europe, it's conceivable that Eurosport might pick it up. One way or another, I'm fairly sure we can find streams.

katmilr:

Howdy Paul!

Can't believe they picked Alabama, AGAIN.  Last year for the Davis Cup for US and Switzerland they had to choose between San Antonio, Tx and Birmingham Alabama. And chose Alabama.Man, they must really hate Texas or something.

Whatever I'm still cheering for Russia. Plus, I don't like Melanie Oudin she's over hyped. 

I was thinking some more about the reason for the choice against Austin--it's pretty simple, really. Austin, if not as cutting-edge as it likes to imagine, IS very up to date & global in outlook. More importantly, the town remains haunted by the ghosts of the 1960s. You'd be astonished (or maybe you wouldn't) what some of the pillars of the community were up to back in the day. In Austin, they couldn't be sure that some respectable oldsters in VIP boxes wouldn't come waving Russian flags. lol!

Deep in the old Confederacy, OTOH, USTA can count on an audience of at least generic 'droids. "Patriots", y'know? An additional source for developing information may be the USTA Fed Cup webpages.

http://www.usta.com/?sc_itemid=8A949FEE-7E8B-4B36-BA6A-1B0C483EFF28

http://www.usta.com/USTA/Global/Pro_Tennis/Fed_Cup/PressRelease/2010/USvsRussia/Birmingham_selected_to_host_Fed_Cup_semifinal.aspx

Yeah, I clearly recall the Davis Cup tie, but I'm not absolutely sure this is the first Fed Cup event. Seems to me there might have been something somewhere in Alabama back in another era. No biggie, just saying... The venue at Davis Cup:

 

Like I said before, Tarpischev needs to count on two of Russia's top players. Kuzi virtually committed but there is no assurance Dinara could be fit so soon. Part of the composition hinges on who will still be in the States at that time. Dunno at this point whether Elena will hang around for green clay or return to Europe to prepare for Stuttgart. Petrova will be at Charleston. http://www.familycirclecup.com/ 

1) We KNOW that Masha will play Charleston the week before. She likely won't play again until Rome, so she should be in the States & available. 2) She proved herself in a politically hostile venue; conquered, in fact, at Ramat Ha'Sharon. 3) She is the ONLY Russian player whose presence might be a material deterrent to the sort of dirty tricks deployed at Stowe. Masha has an American fan base--even in Alabama.

Birmingham wins bid to host Fed Cup semifinals between U.S. and Russia

By Solomon Crenshaw Jr. -- The Birmingham N...

February 15, 2010, 10:44PM

No commitments have been made, but Russia's Maria Sharapova could play in the Fed Cup that is coming to Birmingham April 24-25. (The Associated Press)

Birmingham is bringing another marquee international team tennis event to town. 

Almost a year after hosting a first-round Davis Cup match, the city has landed the Fed Cup semifinal that will pit the United States against Russia. 

The United States Tennis Association will announce Tuesday at 1 p.m. at City Hall that the women's version of the Davis Cup will be held April 24-25 at the BJCC Arena. 

"I can confirm that the Fed Cup semis are coming to Birmingham," said Tim Curry, the USTA's director of public relations. 

Birmingham's bid beat out such cities as Las Vegas, Chicago, San Antonio, St. Louis and Providence, according to Gene Hallman, executive director of the Alabama Sports Foundation. 

Hallman said it's too soon to know which players will play for either side, but he mentioned Venus and Serena Williams and Melanie Oudin as possibilities for the United States and Maria Sharapova as a possibility for Russia. 

"We will actively recruit the Williams sisters to come to Birmingham," Hallman said. "This is a major international event. It validates how positive the experience was for the USTA last year with the Davis Cup here. 

The 2009 Davis Cup tie between the United States and Switzerland at the BJCC Arena set the attendance record for a first-round Davis Cup tie in this country, attracting 45,708 fans. Tourism officials estimated the economic impact at $8 million. 

See Tuesday's Birmingham News for the full story.

http://blog.al.com/birmingham-news-sports/2010/02/birmingham_wins_bid_to_host_fe.html

 

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The best athletes of Russian always support their country.




The former U.S. figure-skating champion; Kwan reminded the children that hard work and persistence are a large part of the success of athletes like herself or Washington Capitals star Alex Ovechkin or former Wimbledon champion Maria Sharapova — both Russian natives.
"Keep on working hard, and your dreams — such a great thing — will come true," Kwan said "A lot of my dreams came true."

"We will actively recruit the Williams sisters to come to Birmingham," Hallman said.

Read: The Alabama Sports Foundation, acting as a deniable surrogate for USTA, will raise a large under-the-table "appearance fee" to persuade them. $$$$$ might or might not work. Like I've said before, there do exist barriers to sisters participation in hyper-nationalistic exercises.

Russian fans believe Maria should play. Frankly, so do I--for reasons previously stated:

"1) We KNOW that Masha will play Charleston the week before. She likely won't play again until Rome, so she should be in the States & available. 2) She proved herself in a politically hostile venue; conquered, in fact, at Ramat Ha'Sharon. 3) She is the ONLY Russian player whose presence might be a material deterrent to the sort of dirty tricks deployed at Stowe. Masha has an American fan base--even in Alabama.  "

However, as with the sisters, these considerations are often more complicated than many fans appreciate. One will see.

paul_pipkin:

"We will actively recruit the Williams sisters to come to Birmingham," Hallman said.

Read: The Alabama Sports Foundation, acting as a deniable surrogate for USTA, will raise a large under-the-table "appearance fee" to persuade them. $$$$$ might or might not work. Like I've said before, there do exist barriers to sisters participation in hyper-nationalistic exercises.

Russian fans believe Maria should play. Frankly, so do I--for reasons previously stated:

"1) We KNOW that Masha will play Charleston the week before. She likely won't play again until Rome, so she should be in the States & available. 2) She proved herself in a politically hostile venue; conquered, in fact, at Ramat Ha'Sharon. 3) She is the ONLY Russian player whose presence might be a material deterrent to the sort of dirty tricks deployed at Stowe. Masha has an American fan base--even in Alabama.  "

However, as with the sisters, these considerations are often more complicated than many fans appreciate. One will see.

MASHA IS A GOOD EXAMPLE. SHE IS ALWAYS HERE WHEN WE NEED HER HELP.

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The best athletes of Russian always support their country.




The former U.S. figure-skating champion; Kwan reminded the children that hard work and persistence are a large part of the success of athletes like herself or Washington Capitals star Alex Ovechkin or former Wimbledon champion Maria Sharapova — both Russian natives.
"Keep on working hard, and your dreams — such a great thing — will come true," Kwan said "A lot of my dreams came true."

Today is Shamil Tarpishchev's birthday 

On March 7, 2010 it is the 62nd birthday of  Russian Tennis Federation's President, Captain of this country in the Davis Cup and Fed Cup Shamil Anvyarovich Tarpishchev.

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The best athletes of Russian always support their country.




The former U.S. figure-skating champion; Kwan reminded the children that hard work and persistence are a large part of the success of athletes like herself or Washington Capitals star Alex Ovechkin or former Wimbledon champion Maria Sharapova — both Russian natives.
"Keep on working hard, and your dreams — such a great thing — will come true," Kwan said "A lot of my dreams came true."

Now, check this out: According to the unofficial but reliable http://www.elena-dementieva.net/schedule.htm , Lenochka has a month off after Miami:

Tournaments on Elena's Calendar:
24/3 - 4/4 Sony Ericsson Open Miami, United States Premier Mandatory  
2/5 - 8/5 Internazionali BNL dItalia Rome, Italy Premier $2M  
8/5 - 16/5 Mutua Madrilena Madrid Open Madrid, Spain Premier Mandatory  
23/5 - 5/6 Roland Garros Paris, France Grand Slam

Playing neither green clay nor returning to Stuttgart, it appears Dementieva has nothing scheduled until Rome--a full week after Fed Cup.

Might this mean something?

(Elena is a frequent participant at the Porsche. Last year she lost to Kuzi in the semifinal--who went on to defeat Safina for the title. I'm looking closely at this matter of passing on Stuttgart.)

 

Oh. for the April tie has been reset to an hour earlier: Correction: Birmingham is in the Central time zone, but "daylight savings time" will have kicked in, making it (GMT-5).

Birmingham-Jefferson Convention Complex Arena (BJCC Arena), Birmingham, USA
Stadium Capacity: 5,500
24 April - 25 April 2010
Day 1: 1300hrs CDT (1800hrs GMT)
Day 2: 1300hrs CDT (1800hrs GMT)
Surface: Hard (Premier) - Indoors

 Local Alabama CBS TV outlet, touting tickets, says:

"The big question...will one of the Williams sisters be playing for the home team?  The answer...no one's sure but organizers say it looks good at least one of them will be here in Birmingham."

http://www.cbs42.com/sports/story/Fed-Cup-tickets-go-on-general-sale/Oh-_t1Ii5EWOaC9mvme_Bg.cspx 

That would be Venus.

Interesting remarks in Lenochka's third round interview at IW. IMO, she's jerking them around. (I posted the whole thing on her thread--overall, the interviewer was weaving in sneaky subtexts & Elena responded accordingly.) However, for what it's worth:

Q. Are you going to play Fed Cup against the U.S.?
ELENA DEMENTIEVA: I don't think so, but -- I don't think so. Not this year. ("but"...?)

Q. Because you don't want to have to play Miami and then go to Europe and then come all the way back?
ELENA DEMENTIEVA: I mean, from the beginning, I didn't plan to go Charleston, so I will probably just come back to Europe after Miami. It will be difficult to come back again to the United States. There are a lot of Russian players who's gonna be in Charleston, like Alisa, Vera, Svetlana maybe. So, yeah, we don't have problems with players.

Q. Svetlana said she's not going to play. (Now, I have not read that other than in this.)
ELENA DEMENTIEVA: Well, maybe because she needs to defend her title in Stuttgart. It's, you know, like -- it's pretty, you know, close with Stuttgart. So I don't know who's going to play.

Y'know what I think? Whether or not they know who Shamil will tap out, the Russian players are doing as he wishes and muddying the water--misdirection, possibly disinformation. Works for me.

paul_pipkin:

 Local Alabama CBS TV outlet, touting tickets, says:

"The big question...will one of the Williams sisters be playing for the home team?  The answer...no one's sure but organizers say it looks good at least one of them will be here in Birmingham."

http://www.cbs42.com/sports/story/Fed-Cup-tickets-go-on-general-sale/Oh-_t1Ii5EWOaC9mvme_Bg.cspx 

That would be Venus.

paul_pipkin:

Interesting remarks in Lenochka's third round interview at IW. IMO, she's jerking them around. (I posted the whole thing on her thread--overall, the interviewer was weaving in sneaky subtexts & Elena responded accordingly.) However, for what it's worth:

Q. Are you going to play Fed Cup against the U.S.?
ELENA DEMENTIEVA: I don't think so, but -- I don't think so. Not this year. ("but"...?)

Q. Because you don't want to have to play Miami and then go to Europe and then come all the way back?
ELENA DEMENTIEVA: I mean, from the beginning, I didn't plan to go Charleston, so I will probably just come back to Europe after Miami. It will be difficult to come back again to the United States. There are a lot of Russian players who's gonna be in Charleston, like Alisa, Vera, Svetlana maybe. So, yeah, we don't have problems with players.

Q. Svetlana said she's not going to play. (Now, I have not read that other than in this.)
ELENA DEMENTIEVA: Well, maybe because she needs to defend her title in Stuttgart. It's, you know, like -- it's pretty, you know, close with Stuttgart. So I don't know who's going to play.

Y'know what I think? Whether or not they know who Shamil will tap out, the Russian players are doing as he wishes and muddying the water--misdirection, possibly disinformation. Works for me.

IT IS BETTER TO KEEP THE SECRET. WE DON'T WANT OUR OPPONENTS TO KNOW WHO IS GOING TO PLAY AT FED CUP 2010.

IT WILL BE A GREAT SURPRISE FOR THEM WHEN THEY WILL KNOW THE NEW BUT IT WILL BE TOO LATE BECAUSE THEY WON'T BE READY FOR THAT. LOL

 

 

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The best athletes of Russian always support their country.




The former U.S. figure-skating champion; Kwan reminded the children that hard work and persistence are a large part of the success of athletes like herself or Washington Capitals star Alex Ovechkin or former Wimbledon champion Maria Sharapova — both Russian natives.
"Keep on working hard, and your dreams — such a great thing — will come true," Kwan said "A lot of my dreams came true."

Well, about midway in the 6th week of Maria's recovery, there's a couple of days of match play in Birmingham...

my oh my, you've totally analyzed the whole thing to the core!!

Lemme get this str8:

Kuzzy practically committed, but then the Dementieva interview shows (suddenly) putting Kuzy's place in question, and Elena herself has no idea where she's gonna be then eventho there is a total gap in her schedule... also, still not much on where Petrova stands, and with all that in progress, our dear Sharapova is now out for 3-6 wks (the Fed Cup being after the 3rd, but b4 the 6th)...

On the other hand, the Williams sisters have kinda "conflict of interest", but both of them are gonna be "actively recruited", but it's been advertised that "at least one of them" will be there for sure, and with all that, Oudin is nobody's concern, LOL

Did I miss anything? 

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M-faitH:

my oh my, you've totally analyzed the whole thing to the core!!

Lemme get this str8:

Kuzzy practically committed, but then the Dementieva interview shows (suddenly) putting Kuzy's place in question, and Elena herself has no idea where she's gonna be then eventho there is a total gap in her schedule... also, still not much on where Petrova stands, and with all that in progress, our dear Sharapova is now out for 3-6 wks (the Fed Cup being after the 3rd, but b4 the 6th)...

On the other hand, the Williams sisters have kinda "conflict of interest", but both of them are gonna be "actively recruited", but it's been advertised that "at least one of them" will be there for sure, and with all that, Oudin is nobody's concern, LOL

Did I miss anything? 

"Analyze it to death", some people might say. If I could get to the core, I'd know what they were gonna do.  Yeah, you got the gist of it. I'm not believing for a second the Russian girls are that vague on their plans--'cause they cut deals with each other. (You do Stuttgart, I'll lay out this year, etc, etc...) Sometimes, by a month out, you can make a guess on what Shamil probably has in mind. But here he can leave it as murkey as he wants as long as he wants. There's that whole slice of Team Russia who will be in Charleston--any of them could go by Birmingham with ease before returning to Europe.

So Lenochka has a month off. Well, boyfriend Maxim plays outta Atlanta now, & he's got family in Florida nearby Harold Solomon's, where Elena sometimes trains--so where is she really gonna be? Dunno, but if Kuzi really did reverse herself, it's because she traded off with somebody.

On the American end, we're lookin' at the "politics of the sisters" & it should take a far more knowlegeable analyst than me to wade into those waters! It's inconceivable to me that Fed Cup could be played anywhere in the South without Oudin on the team. My best bet at this moment would be Venus & Melanie, with Huber & possibly veteran Raymond for doubles--because they know very well that doubles may be decisive.

Speaking on behalf of the American minority who remain committed to fair play:

The abomination taking place in Miami demands a full retaliatory response.

I call upon all the top players of Russia who are fit to rise to Captain Tarpischev's call--to assemble four weeks from now in Birmingham, Alabama--in the very heart of Amerikan reaction.

Deploy en masse to crush the pretensions of the cheats, liars & crooks on their own soil--no matter who they field.

paul_pipkin:

"Analyze it to death", some people might say. If I could get to the core, I'd know what they were gonna do. 

nope, for all i know, u might know the core and just be messing w/ us, just like Tarpishchev :P

But you're right, I'm not buying it that they're w/o a real plan, I'd bet they have a plan C, lol

in any case, i really don't know what's the deal w/ this Kuznetsova supposedly not being in it or whatever, i figure it's just an addition to keeping us wonder about the whole set-up

as for the "politics of the sisters", well i'm honestly not sure what to think about that one.. i feel like whatever i say i'd probably end up being wrong :-S

i do agree with you as far as the doubles are concerned, it really might be what decides the whole outcome

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