Fed Cup: Captain Zina Garrison's Blog

U.S. Fed Cup Captain Zina Garrison will be writing a daily blog from Moscow as she leads the U.S. team of Liezel Huber, Madison Brengle, Vania King and Ahsha Rolle against Russia in a Fed Cup Semifinal tie April 26-27. Come back each day to read Captain Garrison's thoughts exclusively on USTA.com.

Entry # 6 - Sunday, April 27

Today I asked the team to play every point and I thought all the players did a wonderful job of doing that.

Vania played great and it was really nice to see Ahsha win her match against Vesnina. Ahsha served unbelievably well and I think it was amazing that she was able to keep her serve on that level for the whole match. That kind of serving is a high level for anyone and is Grand Slam material.

The doubles match was a lot of fun and it was nice to see Liezel and Vania pull off a win. All of the girls were into it and it was a good show from a fan’s and coach’s point of view.

We found out this morning about 10:15 a.m. at practice that Kuznetsova and Chakvetadze were not going to play singles and instead Zvonareva and Vesnina were playing. I was not too surprised as I had a feeling yesterday that it might happen.

It has been an amazing experience the past five years leading the U.S. team and this is now my last tie as U.S. Fed Cup Captain.

Looking back, one tie that stands out for me is when we played Belgium in 2006 because a lot of the staff and I got sick with some kind of bug. It affected about 13 of 20 people on the trip and it was the sickest I had been in a long time. Luckily, however, most of the players were fine.

And in the past five years I have coached so many different players. I have had a little bit of everyone on my teams from the Grand Slam champions like Venus, Serena and Lindsay to the young ones. And I have had the pleasure of watching so many players, like Vania and Madison, grow up.

Entry #5 - Saturday, April 26

In Vania’s match today against Anna, I thought a couple points here and there and Vania would have won. Immediately after the match, as we were walking back to the locker room, I told her, ‘That should have been your match.’

In the second match, Ahsha faced Svetlana and you know Svetlana is going to play well. It (clay) is one of her favorite surfaces, she plays well on it and she is a Grand Slam winner. And Ahsha realized she could actually stay with her.

The score does not indicate how close the match was - there were really good points in there and it was not like Ahsha got blown off the court. If someone looks at the scores, it looks like she got blown away but it was actually a pretty good match.

I was very proud of both Vania and Ahsha today. They did just what we asked – they went out and played their hardest.

Tomorrow, Vania and Svetlana play first. I told Vania for tomorrow, ‘When you have opportunities, you have to take them.’ Anytime you play a top ten player you are only going to get one or two opportunities here and there. Top ten players are not missing often so when they do, you have to take advantage of those chances.

Tonight, the girls are all in good spirits. They know they went out there, tried their best and laid it all on the line.

Entry #4 - Friday, April 25

There were no surprises at the draw ceremony today with the Russian lineup. Vania will face Anna in the first match tomorrow and then Ahsha plays Svetlana.

Vania and Anna played the first match last year in Stowe, which Anna won. I think Anna was playing extremely well in that match, however, I think Vania is playing much better now than she was then.

Then it will be Ahsha’s first Fed Cup match and it is going to be interesting to see how she handles everything. Ahsha and Svetlana have never played but they have similar styles. They both have big forehands, bomb serves and as far as power is concerned, they are very strong.

World rankings do not always tell the whole story about how good a player is. There could be a lot of reasons why someone is ranked where they are such as lack of playing time due to injury. Ahsha had a knee injury right after she had such a great US Open in 2007 and jumped up in the rankings - that takes away some momentum right there.

For tonight, the players are all getting together and having their own private dinner. I like to let them have fun, relax and just get ready the night before play starts.

USTA Chairman of the Board and President Jane Brown Grimes with the U.S. Fed Cup Team. (Photo: Andrei Golovanov)

I thought we had a great practice today. It has been good that the Future Fed Cuppers, Alison and Coco, have been able to really mix in and play with the team. Liezel has been teaching them about doubles and Vania and Ahsha also had great practices today.

I’m still trying to figure out what lineup the Russians will announce at the official draw ceremony tomorrow. Dinara Safina is on the list (of players) but we have not seen her yet. Vera Zvonareva is here (as well as Elena Vesnina) though so we are trying to figure out who will play. However, I’m pretty sure that they will still have Kuznetsova and Chakvetadze in No. 1 and No. 2 singles.

Vania played Chakvetadze last year in the semifinals in Vermont. Chakvetadze won that match and I know Vania is a true competitor and would like to bounce back strong.

And I am saying to each one of the girls that you go out there and give it your best and above all, you have to believe in yourself.

US Fed Cup Team

Since we arrived in Russia, I think our team has had some of the best practices since I have been U.S. Fed Cup Captain in the respect that our “Future Fed Cuppers”, Coco Vandeweghe and Alison Riske, are also practicing with the players.

Liezel Huber has been amazing. Besides being a great player, she is like a coach on the court at the same time. Ahsha Rolle and Vania King have also had very good practices and it has been a really great team atmosphere. I think it helps that a lot of girls are the same age or around the same age and know each other.

My lineup for this weekend is pretty much set already. It's going to be Vania and Ahsha in singles and Vania and Liezel in doubles. Madison has already had a lot of great practices but Ahsha has more experience and Madison is still a little young. And I like the fact that I have made a decision on the lineup ahead of time.

Tomorrow we are practicing in the morning at the Luzhniki Sport Arena and then Liezel and Vania will play doubles in the afternoon. We will also play some singles and then we have the official dinner at night.

Entry #1 - Thursday, April 17

It is a great developmental opportunity for the players who are going to Russia. Mary Joe Fernandez, U.S. Fed Cup Coach, and I talked about it and we decided to take this direction (with these players) since she is coming in next year as Fed Cup Captain. I wanted to make sure that Mary Joe had input, as they are players she will be working with next year. We talked long and hard about it, and I also spoke to Jean Nachand, Director of Women's Tennis with USTA Player Development.

I’m really looking forward to spending time with Liezel and getting to know her a little better. It is a great opportunity for the other players to be around someone who is at the top of her game right now. We’re going to Russia and playing people who are at the top of their game. I am just going to keep reinforcing to everyone, you never know. You go out and play your game and let things fall as they may. I’ve been giving some thought to the lineup and I think it will probably be Liezel and Vania in doubles. I’m a little more confident with Vania in the doubles spot because I’ve had her there before.

Madison has been a “Future Fed Cupper” before so she knows the atmosphere and she knows me. Ahsha has never been in this situation before, but I thought she had a great US Open last year and that she would be a good person to select. Vania was also a Future Fed Cupper. I think this will be a great opportunity for the developing talent that is coming up.

This is my last year as captain so it’s a natural thing to think about what I’m doing next. I’m going to train to become a life coach. I’ve always been a great motivator, that’s been my asset and this is something I have been dipping in for quite some time. Specifically, I want to be a sports life coach and I start my first class today. I’m pretty excited about that and hopefully in about six to eight months I will have my first client. I’m going to partner with Jackie Joyner-Kersee and we think we will be a good duo to help athletes - to help the young ones, the ones at the college level, etc. just understand the steps you have to go through to become an athlete, the steps you need to take to maintain it and then when you retire, what you have to do next.