[yazetaw]

Since only the final is left in this year's competition, I've already compiled the list of all participants in the next year's competition. We have a significant shake-up at the highest level - from those teams who lost in the first round earlier this year only France managed to keep their place in WG I.

In brackets I listed four highest ranked singles players from all countries in WG I & WG II as well as in a top level of zonal competition. Top 20 players in blue, those ranked #21-50 in orange and those ranked #51-100 in green. Prominent (top 10) doubles specialists in Italic.


World Group I


USA (Serena Williams, Venus Williams, Bethanie Mattek-Sands, Jill Craybas) + Liezel Huber, Lisa Raymond

Italy (Flavia Pennetta, Sara Errani, Francesca Schiavone,Roberta Vinci)

Russia (Dinara Safina, Elena Dementieva, Vera Zvonareva, Svetlana Kuznetsova)

Czech Republic (Iveta Benesova, Lucie Safarova, Petra Kvitova, Nicole Vaidisova) + Kveta Peschke

France (Marion Bartoli, Alize Cornet, Amelie Mauresmo, Virginie Razzano)

Serbia (Jelena Jankovic, Ana Ivanovic, Ana Jovanovic, Bojana Jovanovski)

Ukraine (Alona Bondarenko, Kateryna Bondarenko, Mariya Koryttseva, Viktoriya Kutuzova)

Germany (Sabine Lisicki, Anna-Lena Groenefeld, Kristina Barrois, Julia Goerges)


World Group II


Spain (Anabel Medina Garrigues, Carla Suarez Navarro, Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez, Nuria Llagostera Vives) + Virginia Ruano Pascual

Slovakia (Dominika Cibulkova, Daniela Hantuchova, Magdalena Rybarikova, Lenka Wienerova)

China (Jie Zheng, Na Li, Shuai Peng, Yuan Meng)

Argentina (Gisela Dulko, Jorgelina Cravero, Betina Jozami, Soledad Esperon)

Estonia (Kaia Kanepi, Maret Ani, Margit Ruutel, Julia Matojan)

Poland (Agnieszka Radwanska, Urszula Radwanska, Marta Domachowska, Anna Korzeniak)

Australia (Samantha Stosur, Jelena Dokic, Casey Dellacqua, Jessica Moore) + Rennae Stubbs

Belgium (Yanina Wickmayer, Kirsten Flipkens, Tamaryn Hendler, Caroline Maes)


Europe/Africa Group I


Belarus (Victoria Azarenka, Olga Govortsova, Anastasiya Yakimova, Ekaterina Dzehalevic)

Great Britain (Anne Keothavong, Melanie South, Katie O'Brien, Elena Baltacha)

Israel (Shahar Peer, Tzipora Obziler, Julia Glushko, Keren Shlomo)

Switzerland (Patty Schnyder, Timea Bacsinszky, Stefanie Voegele, Stefania Boffa)

Austria (Sybille Bammer, Tamira Paszek, Patricia Mayr, Yvonne Meusburger)

Hungary (Agnes Szavay, Melinda Czink, Katalin Marosi, Greta Arn)

Denmark (Caroline Wozniacki, Hanne Skak Jensen, Karen Barbat, Malou Ejdesgaard)

Croatia (Karolina Sprem, Jelena Kostanic Tosic, Petra Martic, Jelena Pandzic)

Romania (Sorana Cirstea, Monica Niculescu, Edina Gallovits, Iona Raluca Olaru)

Slovenia (Katarina Srebotnik, Masa Zec Peskeric, Andreja Klepac, Polona Hercog)

Netherlands (Michaella Krajicek, Arantxa Rus, Michelle Gerards, Chayenne Ewijk)

Sweden (Sofia Arvidsson, Johanna Larsson, Michaela Johansson, Kristina Andlovic)

Bosnia & Hercogovina (Mervana Jugic-Salkic, Sandra Martinovic, Ema Burgic)

Portugal (Michelle Larcher de Brito, Neuza Silva, Frederica Piedade, Magali de Lattre)

Latvia (Anastasija Sevastova, Irina Kuzmina, Liga Dekmeijere, Diana Marcinkevica)


Asia/Oceania Group I


Japan (Ai Sugiyama, Ayumi Morita, Kimiko Date Krumm, Tomoko Yonemura)

Thailand (Tamarine Tanasugarn, Suchanun Viratprasert, Noppawan Lertcheewarkarn, Montinee Tangphong)

New Zealand (Marina Erakovic, Sacha Jones, Ellen Barry, Dianne Hollands)

Uzbekistan (Akgul Amanmuradova, Vlada Ekshibarova, Aleksandra Kolisnichenko, Albina Khabibulina)

Chinese Taipei (Yung-Jan Chan, Su-Wei Hsieh, Chin-Wei Chan, Kai-Chen Chang)

Kazakhstan (Galina Voskoboeva, Yaroslava Shvedova, Sesil Karatantcheva, Zarina Diyas)

Indonesia (Sandy Gumulya, Romana Tedjakusuma, Ayu Fani Damayanti, Lavinia Tananta)

South Korea (Ye-Ra Lee, Jin-A Lee, Kyung Yee Chae, Kyung-Mi Chang)


Americas Group I


Canada (Alexandra Wozniak, Stephanie Dubois, Sharon Fichman, Heidi el Tabakh)

Paraguay (Rossana de Los Rios, Veronica Cepede, Isabella Robbiani)

Brazil (Vivian Segnini, Roxane Vaisemberg, Ana-Clara Duarte, Nathalia Rossi)

Columbia (Mariana Duque Marino, Catalina Castano, Viky Nunez Puentes, Karen Emilia Castiblano Duarte)

Chile (Melisa Miranda Otarola, Karina Andrea Koch Benvenuto, Cecilia Costa, Gabriela Roux)

Cuba (-)

[freddystone]

Spain in World Group II. That's, well, I don't know what the word is....

[yazetaw]

Spain in World Group II. That's, well, I don't know what the word is....

Going by rankings they are borderline Group I/Group II nation. Sometimes in the one sometimes in the other seems appropriate...

[bxxasxxa]

Suliso is certainly no PierceCheng.

[gyjsdtuwr]

Suliso is certainly no PierceCheng. We need a rattlesnake smiley.

[KukkoDrukko]

I think the domination of the following teams are:

RUSSIA

• Starters: Safina, Dementieva, Zvonareva, Kuznetsova
• Substitutes: Petrova, Chakvetadze, Kleybanova, Pavlyuchenkova, Kirilenko, Sharapova, Makarova, Vesnina, Dushevina, Kudryavtseva, Rodina, Bovina, Rodionova sisters, Likhovtseva, Bychkova, Puchkova, Jidkova, Kournikova (absent), Myskina (absent)

FRANCE

• Starters: Bartoli, Loit, Razzano, Parmentier
• Substitues: Pierce, Cornet, M. Johansson, Coin, Beltrame-Bremond, Cohen-Aloro, Foretz, Pin, Rezai, Fedossova, Golovin
• Suspension: Dechy (2 years), Mauresmo (until further notice)

CZECH REPUBLIC

• Starters: Safarova, Kvitova, Koukalova-Zakopalova, Zahlavova Strycova
• Substitutes: Vaidisova, Cetkovska, Hradecka, Voracova, Ondraskova, Pastikova, Birnerova, Smorova, Zahlavova, Hrdinova
• Suspension: Hrdlickova-Peschke (1 year), Benesova (3 years)

USA

• Starters: Glatch, Mattek-Sands, S. Williams, V. Williams
• Substitutes: Raymond, King, Craybas, Oudin, Shaughnessy, Lepchenko, Ditty, Washington, Jackson, Perry, Haynes, Albanese, Spears, Stevenson, Rolle, Osterloh, L. Huber, Lee-Waters, Granville, Capriati (absent), Davenport (absent), Harkleroad, Brengle

ITALY

• Starters: Pennetta, Errani, Schiavone, Vinci
• Substitutes: Santangelo, Garbin, Brianti, Camerin, Knapp, Vierin, Oprandi

SPAIN

• Starters: Suarez Navarro, Dominguez Lino, Martinez Sanchez, Ruano Pascual
• Substitutes: Parra Santonja, Marrero
• Suspension: Medina Garrigues, Llagostera Vives (both 1 year)

CHINA

• Starters: Li Na, Yan Zi, Yuan Meng, Sun Tian Tian
• Substitutes: Zhang Shuai, Zhou Yi Miao, Lu Jing Jing
• Suspension: Pang Shuai, Zhang Jie (both 1 year)

What do you think?

[PyncGyncliacy]

I think Kuznetsova needs a calm period

[sFs4aOok]

I'm sure she's bought a bunch of bottles of Venus' "calm period" perfume, m8.

FRANCE

• Suspension: Dechy (2 years), Mauresmo (until further notice)

CZECH REPUBLIC

• Suspension: Benesova (3 years)

LOL. wow, long suspensions, particularly for Mauresmo.

Your Fed Cup posts are always an entertaining read, PierceCheng

[Stainditnew]

Cornet definitely needs a calm period.

PierceCheng, I don't understand why you think Amelie needs to be suspended. She basically won the tie for France.

[TypeTeasiaDer]

Personal dislike?

I'm amused that the top player for Spain is on suspension, too. And that Bartoli is tipped to lead the French team now. I'd kind of like to see a French team coached by her dad for Fed cup.

[freddystone]

I wholeheartedly agree about the suspension for Kveta Hrdlickova-Peschke. That just might be the wake up call she needs to divorce her husband and go back to her sexy maiden name. Woof!

[TypeTeasiaDer]

I wholeheartedly agree about the suspension for Kveta Hardlickova-Peschke. That just might be the wake up call she needs to divorce her husband and go back to her sexy maiden name. Woof!

[altosburg]

How many matches does Mauresmo need to win before her suspension is lifted? "Until further notice" seems like a significant and ominous ban.

[nancywind]

How many matches does Mauresmo need to win before her suspension is lifted? "Until further notice" seems like a significant and ominous ban.

You are now suspended for asking that question. (3 years)

[altosburg]

You are now suspended for asking that question. (3 years)

Don't make me start my volatile period on your ass.

[soprofaxelbis]

Don't make me start my volatile period on your ass.

Graphic!

[MIBgirlsXXL]

Don't make me start my volatile period on your ass.

And another TATism is born.

[nancywind]

Don't make me start my volatile period on your ass.

Oooh, look who's steel wrapped in caramel silk all the sudden.

[Maserati]

[altosburg]

Oooh, look who's steel wrapped in caramel silk all the sudden.

Damn skippy. And I've got the Burger King crown to prove it.