Paris, Nov 14: The French tennis team has held a training session in Paris ahead of their departure to Moscow for the final stage of the Fed Cup.
The French team that will travel to Moscow for the final stages of the Fed Cup held a training session open to the press in Paris on Thursday (13 November). Amelie Mauresmo, who is ranked sixth in the world after beating Justine Henin-Hardenne in the WTA Championships semi-finals and is now preparing to play the Russian favourites in one of the semi-finals, said Russia were favourites on paper against France. "They are stronger than we are. They have four players who are among the best 13 in the world," she said. "As a team, they are also more homogeneous than we are. So we will have to give our best. Some great players will be absent from the finals, and maybe we can profit from that. It will not be easy but we will do our best here as well as in Moscow." Coach and captain Guy Forget believes that the return of Mary Pierce to the French team could make all the difference.


Pierce has not played for her country since winning the 1997 Fed Cup final against the Netherlands, deciding initially to concentrate on her singles career. After winning the French Open in 2000, her career has been disrupted by injuries.


"I feel very good. I'm very happy to be here in the team. It's been a few years that I haven't played and it's been a while that I've been wanting to come back and be in the team again," Pierce said.


France expressed their disappointment that the Fed Cup's climax would be staged in Moscow and said they understood why Belgium's Justine Henin-Hardenne and Kim Clijsters had decided not to play.


In August, the International Tennis Federation chose Moscow over a Belgian venue to stage next week's semi-finals and final.


World number one Henin-Hardenne and world number two Clijsters have since pulled out and their semi-final opponents, the United States, will be without the Williams sisters.


The "final four" starts 10 days after the end of the regular season. Many players consider Moscow a venue off the beaten track which cannot guarantee good crowds.

Bureau Report