Sovetski Sport has published an interesting interview conducted at Roland Garros with Shamil Tarpischev, the head of the Russian Tennis Federation.  I have translated some of the interesting points below:

About Maria Sharapova:

“The shoulder pain has gone. But the psychological fear of getting an injury is still there. No plans to talk to her about her Fed Cup participation in 2010. I am sure she would like to concentrate on improving her ranking.”

About Anna Chakvetadze and Maria Kirilenko:

“Both of them are “mind”-players. But in today’s tennis it will not take you far. They need to add power to their game. I am not saying that they have to add  a lot of muscles, but it is a weak area that they need to work on. I can’t force them to do it, they need to understand it themselves.

About Svetlana Kuznetsova:

I was a little bit disappointed that the partnership between Sveta and Olga Morozova didn’t work out. But what can you do, their characters didn’t click. From psychological perspective, Svetlana is quite happy with her recent move to Russia. But she still has some gaps in her technical game, and she needs a coach to address those problems. (Her current coach is Larisa Savchenko, also recommended by Tarischev.)

Well… I don’t know. However, Matthew Cronin at Tennisreporters.net thinks that Anna Chakvetadze’s father’s quote about Maria Sharapova is most likely false.

For those of you who read the Russian Express story that alleged that Anna Chakvedatze’s father Djambuli told Yuri Sharapov that he has lost all control of Maria, that story is said to have no basis in reality. Mr. Chakvetadze and Sharapova are not friends and would never have such a conversation.
Due to the massive cutbacks in the publishing industry, reporting, or lack there of, has grown increasingly sketchy, while the editing, or the lack there of, has also hit the skids.

I also posted about the Chakvetadze’s father’s quote on my site, which I got from the Russian Daily Express. The argument that Maria’s father and Anna’s father are not friends might not be entirely accurate. When Maria was in Moscow for Fed Cup trainings, the Russian media reported back then that feuding fathers Yuri Sharapov and Djamal had made up. Russia’s team captain himself confirmed in a quote that the fact that Anna and Maria were training together spoke about the improved relationship between their fathers. Having said that, I am also not sure if the quote was true or false. When it comes to Russian media, the line between tabloid press and reliable news reporting is really blurred.  It is common to see a typical National Enquirer-type article appearing next to a 60 minute-style investigative report:-)

Russia’s tennis team captain Shamil Tarpsichev confirmed that Elena Dementieva, Anna Chakavetadze and Svetlana Kuznetsova have given their agreements to play for the upcoming Fed Cup tie with China. The fourth player is still to be announced. Last time Elena played for Fed Cup was in 2006.

Olympic gold medalist Elena Dementieva and former world No. 1 Amelie Mauresmo will meet in Friday’s quarterfinals here. Mauresmo is 8-5 in their lifetime series, but the Russian won their last meeting in Stuttgart last season. I am really excited to have a chance to see them here. I also really wanted to see Chakvetadze play, but she already lost her second round match.

Don’t forget to check out Amelie Mauresmo’s Luxembourg blog.  The 2008 Luxembourg titlist will make $35,000.

Russia’s tennis boss Shamil Tarpischev has announced his team  for the upcoming Fed Cup final tie against Spain. Though traditionally Russia has the best selection pool when it comes to Fed Cup, it seems Russia’s captain had to be satisfied with a second-string team. World number 4 Svetlana Kuznetsova will lead the team comprised of world number 10 and Beijing bronze medalist Vera Zvonareva, 56th-ranked Ekaterina Makarova and number 71 Elena Vesnina.

Elena Dementieva, and Dinara Safina are somewhat exhausted after their recent sucesses in Olympics and US Open, Anna Chakvetadze can’t find her form after the horrific robbery attack, and Maria Sharapova is out with a shoulder injury.

“This is the best team we could assemble at the moment. Dementieva and Safina have a real chance to become world number one so we have to give them a break,” Tarpischev said.

Russians dominate.

WTA Top 10 Rankings (August 25, 2008)

1. Ana Ivanovic - Serbia - 3612

2. Jelena Jankovic - Serbia - 3515

3. Serena Williams - United States - 3341

4. Svetlana Kuznetsova - Russia - 3181

5. Maria Sharapova - Russia - 3131

6. Elena Dementieva - Russia - 3070

7. Dinara Safina - Russia - 3047

8. Venus Williams - United States - 2586

9. Anna Chakvetadze - Russia - 2230

10. Vera Zvonareva - Russia - 2117

In an interview with RBK TV Russia’s tennis boss Shamil Tarpischev has said that he has almost finalized the list of the Russian players for the upcoming Beijing Olympics. There are four spots available for Russia. Maria Sharapova, Svetlana Kuznetsova, and Anna Chakvetadze are confirmed participants. For the last spot, Tarpischev said he still needed to make a decision between Elena Dementieva and Vera Zvonareva. As for the men’s side, things are more complicated. Since there are five players equally qualifying for the four available tickets– Nikolay Davydenko, Mikail Youzhny, Dmitry Tursunov, and Marat Safin. June 8th is the deadline for the submission of the final participants’ list.

Eighth seeded Russian Elena Dementieva came a set down to beat the third-seeded Ana Ivanovic of Serbia, 5-7, 6-3, 6-3 in quarterfinal action at the $1.5 million Dubai Tennis Championships. However, the major upset of the day was Number one see Justine Henin’s loss to unseeded Italian Francesca Schiavone 7-6 (7-3) and 7-6 (7-4). Svetlana Kuznetsova also reached the semi-finals after beating France’s Amelie Mauresmo and will play fourth-seeded Serb Jelena Jankovic who had an “easy” victory when sixth seed Anna Chakvetadze retired with an injury after losing the first set. 

Defending champion Russia overcame a loud 4,000-strong Israeli crowd Sunday to reach the Fed Cup semifinals where they will face either USA or Germany.

Russia was 1-1 with Israel when Maria Sharapova won her second rubber match beating Israel’s star Shahar Peer 6-1, 6-1. Then Anna Chakvetadze defeated Tsipi Obziler 6-4, 6-2 despite the hostile crowd. The win was sealed by Russia’s Elena Vesnina and Dinara Safina who overcame Israel’s Obziler and Peer 6-0, 1-6, 6-4 in doubles.

Israeli fans were out of control. During Anna Chakvetadze’s match they were booing her and even calling balls out during some points. Chakvetadze used the taunting to her advantage and later accused the Israeli fans of having a lack of respect towards the players. “I expected the crowd to be noisy, but not like that,” she told reporters. “Maybe they thought they came to a soccer match.”

Maria Sharapova also got some “love” from Israeli fans. In the second set of her first match the crowd began imitating the famous grunts she makes on each shot as she hits the ball. But not only did Sharapova ignore the mimicking, she even said afterwards that it inspired her and she loved “the craziness of the Israeli fans.” Check out the video of it. It is quite entertaining:-)

However, it looks like Russia’s captain Shamil Tarpischev doesn’t find it entertaining at all. He has filed a complaint against the umpires and the officials of the tie citing that they did very little to control the crowd. “It felt as if we were playing in the zoo,” Tarpischev told in an interview with Sport-Express. He was also unhappy about the fact that the organizers have oversold the tickets, and the guests of the Russian team were left without seats.

Russia 1-1 Israel
Maria Sharapova (RUS) def. Tzipi Obziler (ISR) 6-0, 6-4
Dinara Safina (RUS) l. Shahar Peer (ISR) 0-6, 6-2, 6-2.

(Photos: Alexander Safonov,championat.ru)