Sabatini expected to play in Jakarta
Sabatini expected to play in Jakarta
JAKARTA (JP): World number seven Gabriella Sabatini may bring down Indonesia's chances of winning in the qualifying round of the women's team Federation Cup, scheduled to take place here on Apr. 21-23.
"Sabatini may make it difficult for us to win. But we shall not lose. We shall not be defeated before the game begins," Indonesian tennis queen Yayuk Basuki told reporters on Tuesday.
Yayuk, who ranks 25th in the world, said she was also ready to defend Indonesia at the upcoming Southeast Asian Games in Chiang Mai, Thailand, on Dec. 9-17. "I am ready whenever the country needs me," she said.
Yayuk believes that the Argentinean Tennis Federation does not take the contest with Indonesia lightly and, accordingly, has decided to field its best team. "I knew for the first time that they were going to field Gaby when I met her at the Lipton tennis championships in Florida, the United States," Yayuk added.
Yayuk said that, on paper, the Indonesian women's team ranked below the Argentinean squad, which will consist of Sabatini, Florencia Labat, Patricia Tarabini, Mercedez Paz and Betina Fulco.
Indonesia will have Yayuk, the country's number two Romana Tedjakusuma and a second stringer who will be selected from the ranks of Natalia Soetrisno, Eny Sulistyowati, M.V. Widyadharma, Agustine Limanto and Mimma Chernovita.
Best players
Yayuk said her team mates were the best players Indonesia currently has. She said she was prepared to play in both the singles and the doubles events.
"The thing is, however, that I don't know how ready Romana is. Since the Indonesia Open last January, I have not seen Romana playing or training here because she has been in Surabaya," Yayuk said.
Yayuk has met and fallen to Sabatini four times at official tournaments. But she beat Sabatini in a friendly match at the Kemayoran tennis complex last year.
Yayuk said she hoped she would, at least, be able to beat Florencia.
But, she said, "the possibility is always there that I will eventually succeed in beating her (Sabatini), although our ranks differ greatly," Yayuk said. Taking Indian men's number one Leander Paes as an example, Yayuk said that, although Paes ranked about 100, he often defeated those in the world's best twenty at Davis Cup.
Davis Cup
Meanwhile, the six-member Taiwanese Davis Cup team arrived here on Tuesday for a play-off against Indonesia on March 31- April 2 at the Senayan tennis stadium.
Team manager Su Peng-hong said that, like Indonesia, his team is set to win because a loss would relegate it to Group Two of the Asia-Oceania Group zone.
Coach Hwang Moon-Coul said he believed both his side and the host side had the same chance of winning, given that both sides have often met and sized up each other's strengths. "We know each other's playing techniques," he said.
The Taiwan coach queried Indonesia's choice of choosing clay court over hard court. According to him, Indonesia's number two Suwandi and number three Donny Susetyo were both good on hard courts. On his side, only Lien Yu-hui, currently Taiwan's number one, is particularly good on hard courts, he said.
The draw to determine which of both teams' members will be fielded first will take place this morning.
Yesterday the Chinese Taipei squad was given the chance to get the feel of the court with a series of practice round(arf).