Until now, every Davis Cup or Fed Cup tie that Israel has hosted has been on hard courts.
By JERUSALEM POST STAFFsmashnova 88(photo credit: )
Israel's Fed Cup tennis players, Shahar Pe'er, Anna Smashnova and Tzipi Obziler, have told the Israel Tennis Association that they would prefer to host the upcoming World Group II playoff tie against Indonesia on clay courts.
Until now, every Davis Cup or Fed Cup tie that Israel has hosted has been on hard courts. But the recent success of the Israeli trio on clay, particularly at the recent Fed Cup Euro/Africa Zone Group I tourney in Bulgaria, has caused them to seek moving the venue to Herzliya.
Indonesia has not yet decided whether to travel to Israel, but as reported Monday in The Jerusalem Post, secretary-general of the Indonesian Tennis Federation, Soebronto Laras, contacted the ITA this week to look into the possibility of playing here. The ITA said it had approached the International Tennis Federation about the possibility of presenting Smashnova an ITF award for setting the all-time record for Fed Cup ties played with 61.
The ITA also announced that the trio have all committed to taking part in the first annual ANDA Open in October. The tournament will be the firstever WTA event in Israel.
On Monday, Smashnova won her first-round match at the German Open against Russian Ekaterina Bychkova 6-4, 4-6, 6-4, while Pe'er topped Czech Nikola Frankova 6-3, 6-1 at the Prague Open.
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