NZ women given one-year Fed Cup tennis ban DAVID LONG
David Long
Last updated 05:00 11/12/2011
New Zealand have been banned from playing in next month's Fed Cup by the
International Tennis Federation. The exclusion from the world's premier
competition in women's tennis is because of the last-minute withdrawal Tennis
NZ made from this year's tournament in Thailand in February, when top players
Marina Erakovic and Sacha Jones were unavailable. Both had wrist injuries and
Tennis NZ didn't want to pay the $50,000 fee to send an inexperienced team.
Erakovic played at a tournament in Midland in the United States just a couple
of days after the Fed Cup finished and Tennis NZ CEO Steve Johns conceded to
the Sunday Star-Times at the time that a small injury was only part of the
reason why she didn't compete. After New Zealand pulled out it was expected
the only consequence would be that they would automatically be relegated to
Asia/Oceania group two. However, the sport's governing body has come down
hard and refused to allow this country to participate in January's event in
Shenzen, China. "We have been stood down for a year. That is the penalty for
pulling out at the late stage we did this year," Johns confirmed. "We could
have received a reasonably hefty fine for doing that, or been stood down.
"So we won't be competing in 2012 and will come back into the programme in
2013. "It is disappointing, but we stand by the decision we made at the
start of this year. "It has focused our attention on the fact that we need to
have some real depth in our women's programme and build up a strong team
for 2013 and onwards." When New Zealand play again in 2013 it will be against
the likes of Iran, Kyrgyzstan, Sri Lanka, and Turkmenistan, a far cry from
1965 and 1971, when the Kiwis made it to the quarterfinals of the world group.
Erakovic was trying to climb back up the rankings in February, having slipped
to No291 in the world from her high of 49 in July 2008. Johns says Erakovic
has told Tennis NZ she wants to play Fed Cup again, but admits that she may
turn it down when the time comes. "She's said to us that she's committed to
playing for New Zealand and representing her country. "What that means when
it's time to play Fed Cup again is there is going to have to be a decision
she'll have to make. "It is that perennial issue we have with the guys and
women of weighing up representing their country versus what's best for their
ongoing career," he said. "I don't think it's a problem that's ever going to
go away. "What we've got to do is make it as attractive as possible for them
to play – we give them all the support we possibly can and build a sense of
pride around playing for the silver fern."
TENNIS NZ has a battle on its hands
trying to persuade the New Zealand Olympic Committee that Erakovic should go
to the 2012 Olympics. There are 56 direct acceptances for the women's singles
at the London Games. Erakovic has a current ranking of 61, but a country can
enter only a maximum of four players in the draw, and as there are more than
that number of Russian and Czech players ahead of her in the rankings, the New
Zealander would make it in as the 54th highest-ranked player. But under the
NZOC's current policy, the only way they'd approve her going to London is if
she was ranked inside the top 16.
Johns says he's begun talks with the NZOC
about whether they can make a special case for Erakovic as tennis is so
different from other Olympic sports, but he says they're currently sticking
fast to their self-imposed rules. "She wants to play, she wants to go to the
Olympics, and it's going to have to be an ongoing discussion we have with the
NZOC. "The unfortunate position we're in is that the ITF cut-off is June 11,
so it is close to the Olympics and we're saying to the NZOC that she needs to
know now if she makes the ITF cut-off she's going to go, but we're not at that
point yet."
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