Navratilova Slams Bush Admin; Sampras Readies for Exo

Posted on April 5, 2006

Davis Cup Preview: Belarus at Australia

The Davis Cup World Group quarterfinals will be contested this weekend beginning on Friday, featuring Argentine at Croatia, Belarus at Australia, Russia at France, and Chile at the U.S.

Andy Roddick, James Blake, Marat Safin, Lleyton Hewitt and Ivan Ljubicic are some of the superstars fronting to take their respective nations into the semifinals.

This week Tennis-X will feature one quarterfinal match-up per day leading to the Friday kick-off of play. Today's featured match:

Belarus at Australia
Site: Kooyong Tennis Club, Melbourne, Australia
Surface: Hard outdoors (Rebound Ace)
Ball: Wilson Australian Open

The Aussie Open's old stomping ground is the site chosen by host Australian against visiting Belarus, a curious pick considering Lleyton Hewitt has won Wimbledon, big-serving Aussie potential No. 2s Chris Guccione and Wayne Arthurs have games made for grass, and Hewitt is not a big fan of Rebound Ace.

Injuries and family interests have diverted some of the focus of the Aussies, with Hewitt and Arthurs welcoming new additions to their families of late.

Hewitt has slid out of the Top 10 in 2006 and has not won a title in over a year. A local Reuters writer pegged the Aussies as "overwhelming favorites," but on paper the Aussie squad is less than overwhelming, with Hewitt struggling and the Australian squad lacking a top-tier No. 2 singles player.

"The top guys still have to play pretty hard to beat me and if I keep putting myself in that situation, if I keep practicing hard, hopefully the tide will turn," an optimistic Hewitt told reporters on Tuesday. "Every tie I go into I plan on winning and there haven't been too many that I've disappointed so far, so I'm looking forward to the challenge again."

Aussie captain John Fitzgerald sounded wary speaking with reporters.

"I'm not sure if you can pick favorites, I think it's a fine line sometimes," Fitzgerald said. "This is a tight match and I think Belarus obviously punch a lot higher than their weight in Davis Cup competition."

One player often delivering shocking knock-out blows is Belarus' Vladimir "The Vladiator" Voltchkov, the one-time Wimbledon semifinalist who these days plays mostly Challenger- and Futures-level events to stay sharp for Davis Cup play. The No. 457-ranked Voltchkov will back up compatriot Max "The Beast" Mirnyi, who enters Melbourne on a winning wave after capturing the Miami doubles title with Swedish partner Jonas Bjorkman.

An anomaly in Davis Cup play at the World Group level, Voltchkov arrived in Melbourne straight from a Futures event in South Korea.

"Voltchkov on day one is not going to be an easy task," Hewitt, who has never faced The Vladiator, told reporters. "He's got a great Davis Cup record for a guy who hasn't played a whole heap of tournaments. I haven't seen him play for a few years now. But he is a great ball striker and he was one of the top juniors a couple of years before me. He made the semifinals at Wimbledon that year and I saw a lot of tennis then. When he's playing well he hits the ball extremely hard from the back of the court and very cleanly."

Hewitt has faced The Beast plenty of times, and Mirnyi is familiar with all the ins and outs of the Aussie's game as the two used to be doubles partners, winning the 2000 US Open.

Hewitt holds a 3-2 career edge over Minyi, winning their two most recent meetings in 2005, both tightly-contested three-setters.

The Aussies were also seen as the favorites in two high-profile home losses in each of the last two years: last year when the Argentines beat them on their own grasscourts, and in 2004 when they were upset by a not-particularly-strong Swedish squad.

The Aussie squad's lack of punch these days is not lost on Voltchkov, who sees Hewitt as quite beatable.

"Lleyton doesn't have anything really that big to hurt you, so you always have a chance," Voltchkov told ABC Sports. "It's just a matter of execution, how well you (are) going to be hitting those winners and coming in and finishing off the point."

Navratilova Bags on Bush Hurricane Relief Effort

After losing in the final Sunday at the NASDAQ-100 Open in Miami, ageless doubles specialist Martina Navratilova took time out to laud the hurricane relief efforts of doubles partner Liezel Huber of South Africa, and chastise the Bush Administration for their continued problems in providing solutions for Gulf Coast victims.

While laid-up after knee surgery, Huber and her husband Tony used their down time to organize relief efforts and lobby fellow WTA Tour players for donations, starting the "Katrina Foundation."

"I had knee reconstructive surgery and I was home and laid up on bed and just had rehab," Huber said. "I had the time. Right place, right time. I mean, wrong situation. But here I needed to help. I couldn't sleep. I knew I had to help. So I called Martina and I said, 'I need help.'...In the end, we helped a bit more than 20 families -- and we're still going, of course."

Huber found by speaking with families that they were starting over and basically needed everything -- a house, clothing, food, school supplies, medical care, transportation, etc.

"You name it," Huber said of the hurricane victim's needs.

"I would actually drive from shelter to shelter and go talk to (victims), whether it was Red Cross, or we opened a shelter in my church and we had 200 people, so some families (were helped) from there," Huber said. "Some of the families would tell other families. Just word of mouth."

Navratilova lauded her doubles partner's effort, and also criticized the Bush Administration for failing to get money and basic necessities to the victims.

"Liezel stretched the dollar a long way," Navratilova said. "She really did. It was amazing. It's amazing what can be done when people try. It's so scary when how much money was supposedly given for these people, and the money's not getting to them. They never got it. If you pay -- each family should get a hundred thousand dollars and they haven't seen it. Where is the money? I mean, this administration is ridiculous, the way they make promises and they do not follow through at all."

Huber was also frustrated with what she saw of the U.S. government's lack of effectiveness.

"I want to go to Washington DC and knock on the door and say, 'Where is this money for the families? Where is this money?"'" Huber said. "Because this is all they're asking, is 'When are we going to get our house back?' or 'When are we going to have money to buy a car?' They don't have anything. They rely solely on us, and 'us' meaning me and my husband."

Huber says the families she helps are primarily from New Orleans.

"They're from the worst areas," Huber said. "And they were the families that got out last, and that's why they ended up in the Astrodome in Houston."

WTA players also contributed to the aid effort, with fans and players able to make contributions through the website Liezelscause.com.

"Martina really was out and out, you know, out and out the most generous," Huber said. "Then of course I got help from Lisa Raymond, Jennifer Capriati, and Nathalie Dechy gave us quite a bit also."

Both Huber and Navratilova were questioning their ability to play again once their respective knee surgeries healed, and said the relief effort took their minds off their own problems.

"You don't have that time to feel sorry for yourself, which in essence makes rehab a lot easier because you realize you are very fortunate," Huber said. "So just grateful. You know, just being grateful to play. And here both of us didn't know we would be able to play again, and here we are in the finals of this tournament."

Navratilova commented that 100 percent of the donations, and much of their own money over and above that, went directly to the families.

"Liezel is very efficient, very smart, so she'll -- I knew that was the best money I could spend," Navratilova said. "Forget sending it to the Red Cross. I knew this was like, Okay."

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