U.S. Fed Cup captain Mary Joe Fernandez, who will lead her troops into action against Belarus Feb. 4-5 in Worcester, Mass., says CoCo Vandeweghe‘s recent drop in the rankings (from No. 89 to No. 122) might be due to a lack of focus and conditioning.
“For her, I think it’s a concentration issue,” said Fernandez, who recently saw Vandeweghe in action alongside Billie Jean King and Elton John at a World TeamTennis fundraiser in Cleveland. “When she’s focused and deliberate with her tactics, not just trying to swing away, she plays well. The match I saw her beat Vera Zvonareva a year ago in the summer [a 2-6, 7-5, 6-4 comeback in San Diego], she was great. That kind of tennis is going to win a lot of matches. If she can get back to that disciplined sort of style, she’s got the power and weapons. She could still get in better shape and get quicker around the court. But she should definitely be in the top 60 in the world, in my opinion.”
Both Serena and Venus Williams have committed to play the first-round tie in Massachusetts, but neither player has been 100 percent healthy of late, and Fernandez can’t bank on them showing up. Should one or both be unavailable, she will look to a mix of players that includes Christina McHale, Bethanie-Mattek Sands, Vania King, Irina Falconi, Sloane Stephens, Liezel Huber, Lisa Raymond and Vandeweghe.
Vandeweghe recently announced that she will continue to work with coach Jan-Michael Gambill in 2012 after parting ways with former U.S. Davis Cup captain Tom Gullikson, who is now working with Oudin.
In April, Germany knocked Fernandez & Co. out of the World Group for the first time. A 5-0 shutout meant the U.S. was no longer among the top eight nations, a severe blow for a nation that has won the Fed Cup a record 17 times.
