[quote user="Nella"]Oohhh, poor Elena !! Paul, why is Elena not selected for the Fed Cup in April ??[/quote]
Yeah, I watched the match. Eurosport will replay at 10:00 GMT. 5:00 am here, but I'll get up and watch it again, as FSN's lengthy commercial stuff cut out a lotta around-the-court action, like the physio treatments, etc. I hate this, not only because she is hurt but also the way it's used to feed false perception.
Consider: Unijured, she is generally good now for finals or semifinals but she's often been a quarterfinal level player. We've got this screwed media system that endeavors to show nothing before the quarters. Thus, most TV viewers only see her when she loses. So then, the commentators can sit there and talk trash without being questioned. It's worse for those who don't make quarters yet. Developing players you and I have known of for two or three years just don't exist. When they do get in front of camers, lying commentators claim they've never heard of them. [:P]
Oh well, she'd hoped for more but 125 points ain't bad (all gravy--none defended from last year). I hope she's feeling better for Charleston. Now, The Amelia Island site has her listed as an entrant but I think that's in error. [^o)] Bausch & Lomb has never appeared on the calendar on her site.
Fed Cup: She might still be called. Like Maria, she is at Tarpischev's disposal. Both have kept their calendars open enough, just in case. (The Williamses are perfectly capable of lying about their participation until the last legal moment.) But you have to realize: Shamil has more volunteers to play Moscow than he can use--top players and recent team members are mostly Muscovites. Elena wants to be chosen for Olympics one more time but, for that, she needs higher ranking, not more Fed Cup credits. (She's already got more than anyone else available--plus Olympic Silver. [:)]) Shamil said several months ago that he respected her need to focus on tournaments.
"That's the way the world works... right now." --Maria Sharapova at 17
