Billie Jean King Cup (previously Fed Cup) - India

[suresh]

I'd love to see Ankita play her again -- at Wimbledon perhaps -- and give her a lesson in tennis.

... and a lesson in good manners as well.

[prasen9]

Ostapenko was feeling the pressure. That quote smacks of insecurity and frustration. I am not saying it is right or trying to justify it but just saying that she was surprised and is feeling under pressure for not having won anything big after her FO win from nowhere and not even looking like a top-5 player these days. In the meanwhile, Osaka has established herself as a class player leading the next generation.

This is the same person who said the following about Osaka;

"I'm happy to be a winner despite not playing my best. I know Osaka can't play well for her whole career. She has a bit of an ugly game...she plays at a 5-letter level and I am on a 9-letter level, almost twice as better. She does have an O and a S and an A, and a K, but her name is lacking a second O and a vital vowel e, which collectively are worth more than a redundant second A in her name. Not to mention the p and the N that I have. She needs to up her name by going to court to Osakasato, and then she may be able to compete. " Ostapenko said after the match.

Well, given this, at least she went light on Raina.

[jai_in_canada]

Ostapenko seems to be quite a classless boor. Chanced upon this today. Djokovic was defaulted for less at USO 2020.

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[PKBasu]

Incredibly uncouth and crass. She managed to get away nearly scot-free, but thankfully she lost the match.

[Atithee]

Regardless, Naomi arguing with the umpire is odd at best.

[prasen9]

She is a hothead and immature. She needs someone to talk to her, perhaps from her federation or the WTA about match behavior. Osaka sometimes does immature/odd/uncouth things too but is perhaps not as bad.

[jai_in_canada]

She is a hothead and immature. She needs someone to talk to her, perhaps from her federation or the WTA about match behavior. Osaka sometimes does immature/odd/uncouth things too but is perhaps not as bad.

I think that the Naomi that Atithee is referring to is Naomi Broady, who was in that match where Ostapenko threw her racket at the ball kid.

[PKBasu]

Yes, it was a bit bizarre for her opponent Naomi Broady to almost demand that she be disqualified. (The umpire should have made that determination, but for the opponent to demand it is a bit unsporting too...of course throwing the racket at an official/linesperson should have resulted in an immediate disqualification).

I was a bit bemused by this sudden talk of Naomi Osaka being unsportsmanlike. She comes across as being the epitome of decorum.

[prasen9]

Ah, right, that Naomi. Yes, I found the demand for disqualification to be a bit weird too. But, depends upon what the rule is. If it is a hard rule, then she was okay mentioning it. If it is upon the discretion of the umpire and/or match official, then you cannot demand. It is a bit tacky in that case. Not unsporting per se, imho.

[Atithee]

It is unheard of, “even” if it is a hard rule. At least, I don’t recall such an argument ever, at least in tennis. She won the point; she won the match. Even after winning the match, Broady was going at her. Almost as if the ballboy was a personal acquaintance or even more than that

P.S. I used even at least three times in this post.

[sameerph]

This is our team this year's Asia Oceania Group 1 tournament to be held in Antalya, Turkey on clay from April 11-16.

Sania Mirza
Ankita Raina
Karman Kaur Thandi
Rutuja Bhosale
Riya Bhatia

Captain- Vishal Uppal

Coach - Shalini Thakur

[sameerph]

Looks like Karman has withdrawn due to injury and is replaced by Sowjanya which is good considering her current form.

This is from Kamesh -

Indian tennis aspires for qualification in Billie Jean King Cup
NEW DELHI, MARCH 31:
It will be a tough challenge for the Indian women’s tennis team to qualify for the World Group play-off in the Billie Jean King Cup Asia-Oceania competition, but captain Vishaal Uppal was optimistic about the team’s progress.
The Indian team, spearheaded by the 323rd ranked Ankita Raina, will be without the services of Karman Kaur Thandi owing to a wrist injury. She has been replaced by the 649th ranked Sowjanya Bavisetti, as Zeel Desai and Pranjala Yadlapalli were unable to capitalise on the chance.
Riya Bhatia (457) and Rutuja Bhosale (516) will be the other members of the team, which will have Sania Mirza to bolster the doubles combination.
The Indian team is scheduled to leave on April 7 for the competition scheduled to be played on clay in Antalya, Turkey, from April 12 to 18.
‘’Ankita will join us on 8th. Sania will also join on 8th if she doesn’t play Charleston tournament’’, said Vishaal.
China will be the strongest in the six-team group from which two teams will qualify for play-off and two teams would be relegated to group-2.
Even without the 43rd ranked Shuai Zhang, China will be the best with three top players Qinwen Zheng (72), Qiang Wang (101) and Lin Zhu (109).
Japan will be without Naomi Osaka (77) and Misaki Doi (93), but will have Mai Hontama (129) and Yuki Naito (229).
Korea will have Sujeong Jang (179) and Na-Lae Han (210) as its leading players. Only Indonesia with Aldila Sutjiadi (353) and New Zealand with Paige Hourigan (443) as the main players may not be that strong in terms of rank.
Brushing aside the relative strengths of the teams, Vishaal said that the Indian team would strive its best.
‘’We cannot take any team lightly or fear any team. We are a dangerous side and we can beat any team on a given day. All the teams are tough and every tie will be very challenging. If we can execute our plans well, I am sure we can cause a few upsets and qualify again’’, said the captain.
India had qualified for the first time in its last attempt in 2020 and had lost 1-3 to Latvia last year in Jurmala in the play-off.

[sameerph]

The ties starts tomorrow and it looks like Sania too has withdrawn due to injury. So, now the team is Ankita, Rutuja, Riya and Sowjanya.

With our possible our # singles players Karman and #1 doubles player Sania out, chances of finishing in top 2 to qualify for next level seems to be gone. Now our best hope is to beat Indonesia and New Zealnd and not finish among bottom 2 and get relegated to Group II.

We play Japan tomorrow .

[arjun2761]

Saw the Charleston challenger final on TC yesterday. Sania still has a lethal forehand and is very good at the net. Her serve isn't particularly good but is OK as the serve is less impactful in the women's game anyway. She still looks like a top 10 doubles player and was easily the best of the 4 finalists even though she ended up on the losing team. At the oncourt interview, she did say that she "may" be back next year, so at least hasn't officially called it quits at the end of this year yet.

India is going to miss her as otherwise the doubles point would likely have been assured against all of these opponents...

[jayakris]

^^ That is indeed good news if she said she "may" come back next year! Can't believe it is 22 years since the time when we were getting excited about that 14 year old from Hyderabad.