Dominika Cibulkova says that playing Fed Cup has physically drained her. The 25th-ranked Slovak got food poisoning in Serbia before the Fed Cup tie in February before collapsing on the court with full-body cramps and had to be taken to the hospital. Cibulkova couldn’t play for week after that.
In the Fed Cup semifinal against Russia in April, she played three matches and injured her groin, which she said ruined her preparation for the clay-court season.
“Always the Fed Cup costs me two or three weeks to recover, so sometimes it was not easy for me,” she said prior to the Bank of the West Classic in Stanford. “In Slovakia it's a really big deal as we are a small country of five million people and it means a lot to our country that all the best players compete. We love to play, but we also get pushed to play, but sometimes it’s not an easy decision because we played indoors in Serbia and the next day I had to play in Doha. It’s not easy.”
Cibulkova said that as a Top-20 player it’s difficult to drop mandatory WTA tournaments even if she played Fed Cup the week before.
“I think it would be impossible as I understand Fed Cup doesn't want to cooperate with the WTA and make a schedule with them and there are players who don't play Fed Cup and who come to the tournament fresh and ready," Cibulkova said. "But I would love if they could do something.”