'Keep Fed Cup winning team for World Group'

'Keep Fed Cup winning team for World Group'

JAKARTA (JP): National tennis coach Suzanna Anggarkusuma
called on the Indonesian Tennis Association (Pelti) to keep the
victorious Fed Cup team for the World Group qualifying round in
July.

"We have yet to evaluate their performance in last week's
Group I play-off as the players are in Vietnam to compete in the
WTA circuit and I have yet to hear from manager Martina Widjaja
on the evaluation meeting," Suzanna told reporters on Thursday.

"But in my opinion it is better to keep the winning team
together for our qualifying match in July."

Indonesia's team comprised old hands Yayuk Basuki and Romana
Tedjakusuma and second liners Wynne Prakusya and Wukirasih
Sawondari.

They managed to defeat tough rival Chinese Taipei in the final
of the Group I play-off in Kaohsiung, Taipei.

Following the teams's success, Pelti was urged to include
promising junior Angelique Wijaya to further strengthen the team.

Angie, Angelique's nickname, grabbed the singles and doubles
titles at the Japan Open junior group one on Sunday.

"Angie's achievements were considerable but she still has lots
of things to do considering her young age. She must also improve
her WTA world ranking first," said Suzanna.

"She is welcome in the Fed Cup team especially as we need more
players. If we have enough players, we don't have to worry about
there being two or more events being staged at the same time."

The Fed Cup team has no scheduling problems regarding the
Kuala Lumpur Southeast Asian (SEA) Games from Sept. 8 to Sept. 17
as the World Cup qualifying round will take place on July 21 and
July 22.

But the Indonesian Davis Cup team will have a very tight
schedule for its second play-off match against China from Sept.
21 to Sept. 23, which is only a couple of days after the Games.

Suzanna, however, said players would not be allowed to
complain about the hectic schedule as in modern professional
tennis there are tournaments every week.

"Tennis players are accustomed to tight schedules between
tournaments. They travel between events with only a short time
for recuperation," she said.

"They must always be prepared as we no longer use the periodic
method in which we set a peak time and a recovery period."

"Wynne and Romana, for instance, went directly to Vietnam
after their Fed Cup match. Angie also headed for Vietnam after
clinching the double title in Japan." (nvn)