No hope for RI Fed Cup against Austria: Pelti

JAKARTA (JP): Indonesian Tennis Association (Pelti) spokesman Benny Mailili dismissed the national team's chances of winning the Federation Cup's World Group relegation play-off against Austria.

"It's only a dream! We won't be able to beat Austria. The team will need a miracle to do it," he said on Thursday.

Benny pointed to the clay court as the main obstacle, saying all the Indonesian players were unaccustomed to playing on this surface.

"The court itself dictates that the players will have problems winning, so they have to deal with the reality," he said.

Indonesia only has gravel-surface courts at the Bung Karno tennis complex in Central Jakarta, which has some similarities with clay but is very different in the way it handles.

"The second barrier is the Austrian players world rankings, which are much higher than those of our players," he said.

Indonesia's national team comprises old-hand Yayuk Basuki, who is ranked 618th in the world in singles and 81st in doubles, Wynne Prakusya (101st in singles and 57th in doubles), Romana Tedjakusuma (302nd in singles and 525th in doubles) and newly crowned Wimbledon junior champion Angelique Widjaja (626th in singles and 521nd in doubles).

The Austrian team consists of Barbara Schett (23rd in singles and 18th in doubles), Barbara Schwartz (210th in singles and not ranked in doubles), Patricia Wartusch (163rd in singles and 69th in doubles) and Marion Maruska (165th in singles and 146th in doubles).

The draw for the play-off will take place on Friday and the matches will be played on Saturday and Sunday at the Tennis-Und Sport Center in Neudorft, Austria.

"European tennis players grow up on clay. Playing on such a surface takes good footwork that is different from playing on a fast surface. A player also has to develop a good ground stroke and be patient," said Benny, adding that patience was the key word for national players.

He said of the four players on the team, only Romana had developed the skills necessary to play on a clay court.

"Romana is a typical clay-court player and she is very patient, but unfortunately she does not have the power," he said.

Discussing the lineups for the two squads, Benny said: "Schett will be the first singles and Wartusch the second singles. On the Indonesian side, Wynne will likely be the first singles while Romana will be the second singles.

"On the first day on Saturday, Wynne might not have any difficulties beating Wartusch, but Romana will have a tougher match as she must face Schett.

"On Sunday, Wynne and Romana will have to work hard. The doubles match will not be decisive, although we will surely field Yayuk and Wynne," he said.

Schett's biggest win to date was defeating world number two Venus Williams in the French Open first round. While Schwartz was ranked in the top 40 in 1999 before she had to take a break from the WTA tours to undergo left elbow surgery in February 2000. (ivy)