By Erin Bruehl, USTA.com
In Mary Joe Fernandez’s illustrious tennis career that included two Olympic gold medals, two Grand Slam doubles titles and seven career singles titles, some of the most memorable moments for her actually came when she was competing with a team, instead of individually.
 |
| Mary Joe Fernandez |
Opportunities to compete as part of a team do not happen often in a mostly individual sport like tennis, but the times she competed on the U.S. Fed Cup team, in the Olympics and in the Maureen Connolly Cup were very valuable to Fernandez.
In her playing career, Fernandez won 19 career doubles titles and went 16-10 in Fed Cup play as a member of the U.S. team in 1991 and 1994-98. She was a member of the Fed Cup champion team in 1996 that defeated Spain in the final. She also won gold medals in doubles at the 1992 and 1996 Olympics, as well as a bronze in singles in 1992.
Fernandez, 36, now a well-known tennis broadcaster for ESPN and CBS, will embark on another aspect of tennis team competition in 2009, when she takes over as U.S. Fed Cup captain from Zina Garrison after serving as Fed Cup coach in 2008.
In 2008, the U.S. Fed Cup team defeated Germany in the quarterfinals in February in La Jolla, Calif., and then fell to Russia in the semifinals in April in Moscow, with a mostly developmental team.
“My most memorable moments have been when I was part of Fed Cup and Olympics and before that, Maureen Connolly Cup,” she said. “I really enjoy and thrive under team competition. We don’t get to do it very often (in tennis), so it means that much more when you do.”
“(This year as Fed Cup coach) meeting the younger players -- because I didn’t know them very well -- has been really good,” she added of her experience as Fed Cup coach in 2008. “Now I feel I know a lot of them a lot better, and I know the younger ones that are coming up, too, so I think that is going to hopefully help me out with them and our relationship.”
In Russia, the U.S. team of Vania King, Ahsha Rolle, Liezel Huber and Madison Brengle lost, 3-2, to the powerful Russian team that did not have a player ranked outside the top 50 in the world.
Rolle won her second singles match over Elena Vesnina, and King and Huber teamed up in doubles to defeat Vesnina and Svetlana Kuznetsova, the current world No. 5. King also played extremely well, coming very close to victory in both her singles matches against world No. 8 Anna Chakvetadze and world No. 13 Vera Zvonareva.
“I thought they did great, and it was a really positive week. The girls worked really hard and were really motivated, which was great to see,” Fernandez said of the team in Russia. “I was very proud of all of them, and I thought Vania played really well and could easily have won one or both of her matches. She played great in the doubles. Ahsha, also. She played very well to win her match. It was very exciting to be part of the team with Liezel because of how emotional she got and how much it means for her to play now for her new country (as a new American citizen), and I thought that was very special to be a part of.”
 |
| U.S. Fed Cup team official dinner |
Fernandez saw good things from the developmental team that she will continue preaching to her future Fed Cup teams.
“Basically you really have to instill the belief in the players. When you believe, good things happen,” she added. “You might not win every time, but you definitely have a better chance. They went after every shot, and that was a big thing. You go after everything and don’t give it up. They competed very, very well.”
In February, the United States defeated Germany, 4-1, with a team of Lindsay Davenport, Ashley Harkleroad (the hero with two singles wins), Lisa Raymond and Laura Granville.
With the U.S. team out of the Fed Cup competition in 2008 (Russia will face Spain in the final in September), Fernandez has awhile before she has to pick the team for the first tie in 2009.
A huge advantage for her is that because she broadcasts so many tournaments, she will have chances to talk to many players and follow how everyone is playing throughout the rest of the year. She broadcasts Roland Garros and Wimbledon for ESPN, as well as the tournaments in the Olympus US Open Series this summer leading up to the US Open, where she works for CBS.
She also played with many of the players during her career, including doubles with both Davenport (they won Roland Garros in 1996) and Raymond. Fernandez and Raymond played a heartbreaking but unforgettable deciding Fed Cup rubber in the final in 1998 in Spain, losing 11-9 in the third-set tiebreak to Conchita Martinez and Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario, as Spain won the title, 3-2.
 |
| Mary Joe Fernandez 225 |
Around the US Open, Fernandez will begin talking to players about Fed Cup in 2009. In deciding whom to invite to the team, she will take into account the rankings, who is playing well, who is healthy and, of course, who is available.
“I think it is important to keep in touch with everybody. The good news for me is I’m at a lot of the tournaments; I get to see a lot of players all the time,” she said. “I’ve found from Patrick (McEnroe, U.S. Davis Cup captain) that it is so key to be able to watch them play, be able to stay in touch with them, and I think that is very helpful.”
Fernandez knows there are a lot of demands on players’ time, with packed playing schedules most of the year and injuries, but will of course try to put forward the best team possible for the U.S. in each tie. Asking a player like Harkleroad to compete against Germany (she had surgery and then was unable to play in Russia) turned out to be a great choice, as she won both her singles matches, after coming off a successful fall season.
“I think it just going to depend closer to the tie, who is playing well (as to who will be invited to the 2009 teams),” she said. “Ashley had played really well the end of last year and won so many matches, so you knew she was confident. She was match-tough, so that was a good choice to bring her to San Diego.”
Marty Riessen and Billie Jean King were the Fed Cup captains Fernandez played for in her career, and she saw how much the teams meant to them and how they helped motivate the players. Fernandez hopes she can do the same with both the bright, young American talent, as well as the veterans in U.S. tennis.
“I had Marty Riessen first. He was really, really good, and then Billie Jean King was a dream come true,” Fernandez said. “I think what I took away the most from Billie was how much she really cared about the process and didn’t focus so much on the results. It was more about doing the right things, and she really cared about each person she had on that team. She spent time with each one of us and was very motivational. I hope I can pass a little of that along when I am there.”