Anne Keothavong’s task as the Fed Cup captain is one filled with excitement and sadness as she aims to continue the influence of the late Elena Baltacha.
Baltacha was a former top 50 player, who represented Great Britain in 39 Fed Cup ties. She passed away in May 2014 after losing her fight with liver cancer at the age of 30. Throughout her career, she and Keothavong was engaged in a battle for the British No.1 position. Away from the court, they transformed from rivals to friends. At Baltacha’s funeral, Keothavong recounted about how the two players sat on the court and continued talking about ‘life’ long after their defeat in the doubles competition at the 2012 London Olympic Games.
“She’s still someone I miss a lot and think about,” Keothavong told Press Association Sport.
“I’m sure if she was around she would have been great in this role and I’m sure she would have loved the opportunity to be part of Fed Cup again.
“There is a strong part of me that felt before I accepted this job obliged to do things in perhaps the way she would have. It certainly brings back a lot of memories – the passion she brought onto a tennis court and the fun we had.”
Keothavong will start her role as Captain this weekend in Tallinn, Estonia where her team will participate in the Group 1 tournament of the Europe/Africa zone. The British team features top 10 player Johanna Konta as well as Heather Watson and Laura Robson. They are set to face Turkey, Latvia and Portugal in the group stages.
“We’ll be one of 14 teams in Tallinn and only two will come out. In the past 15 years or so we’ve only managed to do that twice so that tells you how tough it’s been.” Said Keothavong.
“But there’s no reason we can’t get out of this group again and aim for a tie in April and have something to look forward to.”
The dominance of the British Fed Cup team is somewhat different to the one that reached four world group finals between 1967-1981. This year will mark their 24th anniversary of playing in the Europe/Africa zone. In 2012 and 2013 they reached the Group II playoffs, but lost both of those ties to Sweden and Argentina. The troubles of the team are somewhat different to that of their male counterparts, who won the 2015 Davis Cup trophy.
“There’s only eight teams in the Fed Cup World Group whereas Davis Cup has 16 so, with the format, it will take us a few years to get there, should we get there. But we can certainly put women’s tennis on the map in this country.” The new British captain explained.
Regardless of how the team will fair in Estonia, Keothavong hopes that the weekend will be one that would have made Baltacha proud. Almost three years have passed since her death, but her spirit lives on thanks to her teammates.
