Time in Serbia

Serbia Fed Cup team in World Group

Jelena Jankovic and Ana Ivanovic took Serbia Fed Cup team to the World Group after three years of hard work. Alongside Ukraine, Serbia will be debutants in the elite tennis competition, but will also stand good chances of winning the trophy.

If we take into account the teams’ past performances in the Fed Cup and the players’ individual rankings, Serbia’s toughest oppositions will be Russia and the USA. The former because thy have as many as five players in the top 10 – Safina, Dementieva, Zvonareva, Kuznetsova and Petrova – and they have also won the Fed Cup on four occasions since 2004. We should also not forget that former number one Maria Sharapova is sometimes in the team when she is not out injured. As for the USA team, they have been without Serena Williams and Venus Williams in the past couple of years, but nonetheless they have survived in the World Group. What’s more, they will be playing in the final against Italy this season. The USA team also boast the best doubles partnership of Liezel Huber (world’s No 1 doubles player) and Lisa Raymond (ranked No 3), and if needed, coach Mary Joe Fernandez can always fall back on calling up the Williams sisters for the doubles match, as they share the number 11 spot in the doubles rankings.

The draw for the Fed Cup takes place on 3 June in Paris during the French Open and the procedure will produce the opponents Serbia will take on in Round 1.
- “We have realistic chances of winning the Fed Cup next year. We have an outstanding line-up and I believe we have a bright future ahead of us. However, all of the teams competing in the World Group are tough. All we can do is to get ready as best as we can for the first round, which will most likely be played in February,” said Serbia Fed Cup team coach Dejan Vranes.
The seeded teams at the draw for the 2010 edition of Fed Cup World Group will be Italy, USA, Russia and the Czech Republic, while the unseeded teams will be France, Germany, Ukraine and Serbia. The domestic national team comprise two former No 1 WTA players, who are now ranked fourth and seventh.
- “I don’t have any special wishes ahead of the draw. I just wouldn’t like to see us drawn against the toughest of teams, and by that I mean the USA or Russia. We have plenty of time before 3 June to prepare and monitor the performances of our future rivals, and I hope we enter the tie in high spirits and fine form,” said Vranes.
What could prove to be one of the major assets of the Serbia team is the atmosphere and the winning mentality on the team. One player to fit in perfectly with the philosophy is youngster Ana Jovanovic – Serbia’s number three – who beat Maria Jose Sanchez in the Fed Cup play-off tie to achieve one of the finest results of her career.

- “By beating Sanchez in Spain, Jovanovic once again proved she is a player we can count on. I am confident the win will have a very positive effect on her confidence and eventually improve her current ranking (237th), because I believe her WTA rankings position does not reflect her quality and that she can be much better than that. I wish to congratulate all of the players on excellent performances against Spain, as well as on great dedication during the tie,” concluded Serbia team coach Vranes.

Swine Flu Alert !!!

BELGRADE -- The airports in Belgrade and Niš are on high level alert after swine flu broke out in Mexico and spread to America and New Zealand.

A member of the Health Ministry’s pandemic flu work group Branislav Tijodorović told daily Blic that all passengers coming from abroad, especially America and Mexico, will have to be checked out and interviewed by the sanitary inspection.

He said that the Institute for Infective and Tropical Diseases in Belgrade and the Infective Clinic in Niš, Novi Sad and Kragujevac will be accepting all patients that believe they may have gotten the virus.

“What has happened is something everyone in the world of epidemiology fears, and that is that pigs are a source of the virus. After the mutation of the virus, the infection can now be passed from person to person. The World Health Organization declared it as the fourth phase of flu transmission,” Tijodorović explained.

Serbia has prohibited the import of pork from Latin America since the flu broke out.

President of the Health Ministries Flu work group, Predrag Kon, said that the group is constantly working and that there will be an evaluation of the epidemiological situation by the end of the week.

He recommended to Serbs in Mexico and America to follow the recommendations of local health officials, adding that if people come back to Serbia from one of those countries and have a high temperature or are breathing with difficulty, to go and see a doctor.

Kon said that Serbia is not directly at risk and that it is good news that the virus is reacting to some existing medicine.