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Bad luck for Canada, as the Fed Cup draw sends it to Slovakia in April for a Fed Cup relegation tie
There were four options for the Canadian Fed Cup before Tuesday morning's World Group II relegation draw in London.
Two assured home ties. One gave them a 50-50 chance at hosting. The other was Slovakia.
Canada drew Slovakia, and so will be on the road the weekend of April 16-17 to try to save its spot in World Group II for 2017. If Canada loses, it will be relegated back down to the zonal competition, the minor-leagues of the team competition and a place it doesn't want to be.
Slovakia came to Quebec City nearly two years ago, but that was a World Group I playoff, a chance for both nations to join the elite eight in Fed Cup play. Canada prevailed in that one, sweeping the first three singles against a Slovakian team that didn't have some of its best assets. Canada, of course, had Genie Bouchard, who prevailed in two tough singles matches against players then ranked No. 52 and No. 137. Bouchard had just broken into the top 20.
Both teams have fallen on slightly harder times since, because now both are fighting to stay out of the zonals.
Absent for that 2014 tie were three of Slovakia's best, most experienced and highest-ranked players: Dominika Cibulkova, Daniela Hantuchova and Magdalena Rybarikova. While Cibulkova, still struggling to come back from an Achilles injury, isn't the top-10 player she was, she remains a formidable opponent while the veteran Hantuchova is still a solid player in both singles and doubles. Anna Schmiedlova, who played only the doubles in Quebec City, has since become a top-30 player.
Here's the official press-release quote from Canadian captain Sylvain Bruneau:
“Our last loss was a heartbreaker, but we have to move forward and begin preparing for our next challenge. We know the Slovakians well having played them in 2014. We have been lucky to play so many home ties since 2014, but now we are going back on the road.”
Which brings Canada back to the eternal question: will Bouchard play?
By that time in April, the WTA Tour's clay-court season will be about to start; the following week has a glamorous (and popular) Tour stop in Stuttgart, on indoor clay. With her current ranking of No. 58, Bouchard wouldn't make the usual cutoff for the main draw there, and the entry deadline is March 7. That's right before Indian Wells, and Bouchard has only one small tournament scheduled before then – at least so far.
If she wanted to (gasp!) play the qualifying (the winner of the tournament receives a Porsche, and many top players will be there), that would fall the same weekend as Fed Cup. There is another, smaller clay-court stop in Istanbul, Turkey that week.
But the European clay season is endless; it includes top Premier events in Madrid and Rome, and then of course the French Open in late May. To start that part of the season a week earlier likely is a deterrent, especially because Bouchard has already met the Olympic criteria and doesn't technically need to play (as was the case last weekend in Quebec City).
On the other hand, if she doesn't play, and Canada loses, they'd be back to the zonal competition. With the new Olympic cycle beginning, and a new requirement to play at least three ties during that cycle to qualify for the next Olympics, the top Canadian might be motivated to participate in the hopes that she wouldn't have to head down to South America in February, right after the Australian Open, and slog it out for a full week on red clay in Venezuela or Argentina.
Staying in the world group would restrict that commitment to a maximum of two matches over a weekend, possibly at home.
As ever, there's no way to gauge Bouchard's mindset on that. Check back in April.
