Serbia entertain Russia in Fed Cup 1st round-Safina, Sharapova in Belgrade Arena clash

                   

 Russia Fed Cup team, the four-time winners of the competition since 2004, will be arriving to Belgrade. The Wednesdays draw procedure has handed Serbia the hosting of the World Group first-round clash against Russia. The tie, the winners of which will qualify for the semi-final, is played on 6 and 7 February 2010 in the Belgrade Arena.

- Weve been handed the toughest possible opponent, but one positive aspect is that we at least wont be playing in Moscow. Russia are a great Fed Cup team, with ten or eleven players of similar quality, and thats one of their major assets, while we are already preparing for the encounter in Arena, says Dejan Vranes, Serbia Fed Cup team coach.
Both mens and womens national tennis teams of Serbia have yet to lose a tie in the Belgrade Arena, and on each occasion the venue was cram-packed, which is expected to be repeated for the Russia clash a definitive clash of titans in the womens tennis game.
- We know the Russian team well they are arguably the best womens tennis team out there but I believe in our own players. What matters most is that they remain fit and in shape, and I still believe we stand a chance of beating the Russians, no matter what kind of team they send. Our advantage will be the home fans, while the girls are always highly motivated when they play for the national team, added Vranes.
Shamil Tarpischevs team lost this seasons semi-final tie to Italy, while the team comprised Dementieva, Kuznetsova, Chakvetadze and Pavlyuchenko. However, bearing in mind the importance of the Belgrade tie, it is to be expected that Russia field the best possible line-up: Safina, Dementieva, Zvonareva, Kuznetsova and Sharapova.
- Russia are the toughest team possible, but we were also lucky to have been awarded the home court advantage. Had we been drawn to play them in Moscow, that would have been a disaster the tie is played straight after the Australian Open next year, and we would be going from 30 degrees in Melbourne to -30 degrees in Russia. Russia are a strong team, they have a huge selection of players to pick from, but Ana and myself have played each of them before in our individual careers and weve managed to beat them all. I can only hope that we stay fit and healthy, while I believe we can offer another joyous occasion to Belgrade and Serbia come February next year, says Jelena Jankovic, who returned to Belgrade from Paris on Wednesday.
Her teammate Ana Ivanovic has similar thoughts.
- Its bound to be a really exciting affair Russia are the toughest possible team we could have been drawn against, but Im happy we will be taking them on our own court in Belgrade. We will be playing ahead of thousands of our fans and Im sure the atmosphere will be electric. We can already hardly wait for the Belgrade clash to begin, said Ana Ivanovic.
Should Serbia manage to overcome the challenge of Russia, they will meet the winner of the tie between France and the USA in the semi-final. Meanwhile, Italy and the USA play in this seasons big final in November.

                          

                           

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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 Wimbeldon 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."

Yuri Yudkin, 73, was Maria's first coach when she was 4-7. He said. "[Maria] was a very smart girl . . . I never had to repeat instructions twice to her."

http://sochi2014.com/

nice article but the reason why i made the maria sharapova news and articles thread was for  article like this to be in it so we will stop a cluster of articles in tennis talk..

On saying that this article doesnt confirm that maria will play fed cup next year...so im still doubtful

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CONGRATS!! SAME IN INDIAN WELLS PLEASE!!

ved_mariafan:

nice article but the reason why i made the maria sharapova news and articles thread was for  article like this to be in it so we will stop a cluster of articles in tennis talk..

On saying that this article doesnt confirm that maria will play fed cup next year...so im still doubtful

I am sorry, I know very well about your thread but as people started talking a lot about different subjects in your thread, I prefer not to post there.

If Sharapova really wants to play, she will play. I think it will be a great warm up for her new season.

I remember that Dementieva told us that the Fed Cup helped her to improve her results in other tournaments. There are also great battles at the Fed Cup.

The victory of Russia will give to Masha Sharapova a lot of courage for other tournaments. It is very important for her after this long layoff. She should feel that she is still strong and she can reach the top of her career. If you want to feel psychologically strong you have to win. So this victory will help her too.  

It will help her to win the Roland Garros trophy 2010. You see Kuznetsova who won it, always plays at Fed Cup.

Sharapova should win the Grand Slam of Roland Garros 2010.

It is a priority because she has already won all the other Grand Slams (Australia, Wimbledon, USA open).

The next year I would like to see Masha Sharapova with this Grand Slam.

God bless Masha Sharapova

  

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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 Wimbeldon 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."

Yuri Yudkin, 73, was Maria's first coach when she was 4-7. He said. "[Maria] was a very smart girl . . . I never had to repeat instructions twice to her."

http://sochi2014.com/

Thanks for the article.

This is very interesting.

And what " big mouth " JJ says:

.... Ana and myself have played each of them before in our individual careers and weve managed to beat them all...

Maria can say it too, she beat the serb players too.

And JJ said once that serb tennis will rule the WTA.

Well at this occasion she can prove it.

And I'm sure the atmosphere will be like hell, like it was in Israel.

Not exactly. Tough, but not like Israel. Keep in mind, while many Maria & Ana fans don't seem to pick up on the fact , Russians & Serbs are friendly. Beograd is not affected by outside agendas directed against Russia. However, for a variety of reasons, it would not at all surprise me if Shamil called Masha for this tie.

The Serbian article is in error. "Shamil Tarpischevs team lost this seasons semi-final tie to Italy, while the team comprised Dementieva, Kuznetsova, Chakvetadze and Pavlyuchenko." Wrong. Dementieva did not play in Italy--that is the team Shamil should have taken to Italy but he played them against China in Moscow, partly because the Muscovites wanted to see the Golden Girl play at home.

Also, I doubt their speculation "...bearing in mind the importance of the Belgrade tie, it is to be expected that Russia field the best possible line-up: Safina, Dementieva, Zvonareva, Kuznetsova and Sharapova"

No. Tarpischev will certainly take a couple of top guns to Beograd, but he will not abandon the policy of rotating the top players through the ties.

But I, too, strongly suspect Masha WILL play there.

 

Jelena, you've gone from being my "I don't care about" type of players to the top of my list of my most disliked players.

paul_pipkin:

 Russians & Serbs are friendly. Beograd is not affected by outside agendas directed against Russia. However, for a variety of reasons, it would not at all surprise me if Shamil called Masha for this tie.

No. Tarpischev will certainly take a couple of top guns to Beograd, but he will not abandon the policy of rotating the top players through the ties.

But I, too, strongly suspect Masha WILL play there.

 

Yes you are right. Russian&Serbs are friends.

According to Masha Sharapova’s schedule, there is no place for Fed Cup.

But I can say that we always want Masha Sharapova to play at all tournaments. She is very a famous and strong tennis player.

                               

 

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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 Wimbeldon 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."

Yuri Yudkin, 73, was Maria's first coach when she was 4-7. He said. "[Maria] was a very smart girl . . . I never had to repeat instructions twice to her."

http://sochi2014.com/

its so funny that everyone incl me on here hates jelena so much,xcept dee who i haven heard from in a while...but she asked for that(jelena)..Serbs and Russians are very competitive so i expect this to be an intriguing tie..But russia should win even w/o maria cause the female serb tennis is going down..especially ivanovic

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CONGRATS!! SAME IN INDIAN WELLS PLEASE!!

^ And there's a lot of Novak fans here who likes Jelena. I don't know what you guys see in her. She really needs to keep her mouth shut a lot of the times, and she did went to the same tennis academy with Maria, but they're not exactly "friends", actually not at all. Both Maria and Jelena has admitted that -- at least not at all on the tennis court.

It will be an interesting contest. The Serbian home-court advantage is obvious, but I too have confidence in Team Russia.

I've never "hated" either of the Serbian women as much as I'm "put out" that first one, then the other had her head twisted around by pressures--much of which could have been avoided if the people around them had been more vigilant and persuasive. The Russian women, whatever their individual issues, are much better supported & defended by family, country & people. That might sound kinda Pollyanna-ish, but I really think it is true.

Now, that the tie is the weekend after AO is the same problem for any who play it. The last I knew, Maria still had an open week between Fed Cup & Memphis. I don't see a scheduling barrier. Shamil's choice will be who is the most appropriate for this event. He's bent over backwards to accomodate every player's career needs & wishes. Re this year's semis, that may have gone too far.

I think any player who expects she might be needed should stand ready.

paul_pipkin:

It will be an interesting contest. The Serbian home-court advantage is obvious, but I too have confidence in Team Russia.

I've never "hated" either of the Serbian women as much as I'm "put out" that first one, then the other had her head twisted around by pressures--much of which could have been avoided if the people around them had been more vigilant and persuasive. The Russian women, whatever their individual issues, are much better supported & defended by family, country & people. That might sound kinda Pollyanna-ish, but I really think it is true.

Now, that the tie is the weekend after AO is the same problem for any who play it. The last I knew, Maria still had an open week between Fed Cup & Memphis. I don't see a scheduling barrier. Shamil's choice will be who is the most appropriate for this event. He's bent over backwards to accomodate every player's career needs & wishes. Re this year's semis, that may have gone too far.

I think any player who expects she might be needed should stand ready.

Yes If Masha Sharapova can help our team to win the Fed Cup, she should play the tournament.

I would like to say to people that even if Serbs&Russian tennis players have to fight in tournaments. In real life they are our friends&brothers.

I have posted here an article which shows every body that these two nations are friends.

                                                 

 Alexander Pushkin as the Russian cultural brand

On the 20th of October President Medvedev during his official visit to Serbia opened the monument to A.S.Pushkin in Belgrade that is the Russian gift to Serbian people.

The 2-meter bronze statue of the great Russian poet was placed in the historical center of Belgrade in the Vukov park, already having one monument to Vuk Karadžić , the Serbian historian and reformer of the Serbian language. The park also has a sculptural group commemorating the creators of the Slavic alphabet, enlighteners Kirill and Mefodiy. All these outstanding figures, including Pushkin, are, naturally, the cultural brands of the Slavic world. Placed together, they symbolize the unity of Slavic culture.

However, Pushkin monuments, the poet who in Russia is called “our everything” stand all over the world-from Germany and the US to China, Norway and Eritrea. The most famous Russian sculpturers had a hand in erecting the monuments to the Russian poet, such as Yuri Dinos, Alexander Tartynov, Nikolay Kuznetcov-Muromsky and Grigory Potocky. Taking part in this project is not only an interesting creative work, but a creation of the new tool of the people’s diplomacy,-believes Grigory Pototski, recalling his first works:

My first Pushkin was placed in Germany, in 1994 when the last Soviet soldier was leaving the country forever,-recalls Grigory,-I haven’t expected other pushkins to appear, for example, in China, but now there is the Pushkin monument in the Chinese city of Ningbo. When I’m making a Pushkin I always make it life-size not to lose my inspiration, like I worked on the Pushkin placed in LA,-says Grigory Pototski

Not only LA has the Pushkin monument, Washington also received one as a gift from Russia and joined this project of the people’s diplomacy. Moscow shortly received a return gift –the monument to the famous American poet Walt Whitman, placed near the Moscow University and opened by the US State Secretary Hillary Clinton.

The opening of the Pushkin monument in Latvia turned into a scandal. Some people among the intellectual elite saw the Russian threat in the monument and wrote a protest letter. They were embarrassed by the fact that Pushkin has never been to Latvia’s capital, Riga, where the monument stands and by the fact that the sculpture is placed in a park named after Atis Kronvald, the Latvian enlightener of the XIXth century. However, with all respect, Atis Kronvald and Pushkin, the world literature genius are not, to put it mildly, on the same scale. It is hard to support the statement that :“Pushkin’s works are dedicated to the development of the Russian culture and are connected with Russian people, not with European values”. It is ridiculous even arguing with this statement of Latvian intellectuals.
By the way, Istanbul did not fear to place Pushkin at the Okan University near the monument to the founder of the Turkish Republic, Kemal Atatürk.

20.10.2009

 

                 

                                              ALEXANDER PUSHKIN

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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 Wimbeldon 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."

Yuri Yudkin, 73, was Maria's first coach when she was 4-7. He said. "[Maria] was a very smart girl . . . I never had to repeat instructions twice to her."

http://sochi2014.com/

ved_mariafan:

its so funny that everyone incl me on here hates jelena so much,xcept dee who i haven heard from in a while...but she asked for that(jelena)..Serbs and Russians are very competitive so i expect this to be an intriguing tie..But russia should win even w/o maria cause the female serb tennis is going down..especially ivanovic

I don't hate Jelena, but simply I felt like, she is not the type of player I want. But I imitate her service motion. :)

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www.cresanne.webs.com

it's hard to tell who will win if Maria doesn't play, Safina is injured and who knows if she recovers 100% till tha fed cup. that means Elena  is the biggest hope of the russians, and kuznetsova too  but i think that both jelena and ana can beat kuznetsova easily.Maria has to play!

laki696:

it's hard to tell who will win if Maria doesn't play, Safina is injured and who knows if she recovers 100% till tha fed cup. that means Elena  is the biggest hope of the russians, and kuznetsova too  but i think that both jelena and ana can beat kuznetsova easily.Maria has to play!

Maria Sharapova is still working on her new serve. She has changed it because of her shoulder injury. She has improved it but she continues to work on it. We will see the efficiency of her serve at her exhibition match against Venus Williams who is better than Dulko.

Elena Dementieva&Kuznetsova can beat any tennis player of the planet. They even defeated the Williams sisters several times so they can defeat the Serbian girls.

Of course Maria Sharapova can help Team Russia. If they play on clay, it will be a good preparation for Roland Garos. When you play in a team, you are sometimes more motivated.  Any tennis match is always a good preparation for a tournament particularly when you play against tennis players who are better than you.

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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 Wimbeldon 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."

Yuri Yudkin, 73, was Maria's first coach when she was 4-7. He said. "[Maria] was a very smart girl . . . I never had to repeat instructions twice to her."

http://sochi2014.com/

Dartagnan:

laki696:

it's hard to tell who will win if Maria doesn't play, Safina is injured and who knows if she recovers 100% till tha fed cup. that means Elena  is the biggest hope of the russians, and kuznetsova too  but i think that both jelena and ana can beat kuznetsova easily.Maria has to play!

Maria Sharapova is still working on her new serve. She has changed it because of her shoulder injury. She has improved it but she continues to work on it. We will see the efficiency of her serve at her exhibition match against Venus Williams who is better than Dulko.

Elena Dementieva&Kuznetsova can beat any tennis player of the planet. They even defeated the Williams sisters several times so they can defeat the Serbian girls.

Of course Maria Sharapova can help Team Russia. If they play on clay, it will be a good preparation for Roland Garos. When you play in a team, you are sometimes more motivated.  Any tennis match is always a good preparation for a tournament particularly when you play against tennis players who are better than you.

The choice of surface will be critical to Tarpischev's choice of whom to call. If clay, Kuzi is most likely to lead the team. Shamil does not just call on Elena or Maria whenever he can get them, but for specific considerations--only part of which he'll talk about.

 

Beograd Arena http://www.arenabeograd.com/en/events/