U.S. captain Mary Joe Fernandez has named Serena Williams, Venus Williams, Christina McHale, and Liezel Huber to the Fed Cup team that will face Belarus Feb. 4-5 in Worcester, Mass.
Fernandez also named teenager Sloane Stephens as a back-up player in case Venus Williams is unable to compete.
Fernandez said that Venus, who has not played since the 2011 U.S. Open and is battling the autoimmune disease Sjorgen’s Syndrome, has assured her that she is ready to play.
Venus has also entered a number of unidentified WTA tournaments in the past week.
"I’ve been talking to Venus and she wanted to come to Australia but couldn’t, and she called me a week ago and said ‘I feel so much better, I want to go, I’m ready,'" Fernandez told a small group of U.S. reporters in Melbourne. "I asked Serena and she said that [Venus] sounds good. Fingers crossed and let’s hope she is healthy and playing well."
Fernandez has up until the Friday of the draw to make changes to her team. She is unsure whether she will ask Venus to play singles on either day.
"I don’t know yet," Fernandez says. "She says she's ready but I want to see it. I want to see how she is practicing, but I want to see her play practice sets with Christina and Sloane and everybody and see what I see. But if she’s good, there is a pretty good chance [she’ll play singles]. But we have options. Maybe she plays the first day and doesn’t play the second day, or maybe she just plays the doubles. Knowing she can play is a big intimidation factor."
Belarus is lead by No. 3 ranked Victoria Azarenka, whom the No. 101- ranked Venus would have to play on the opening day if she is picked to play singles.
Fernandez added that if the tie comes down to the doubles and if Venus is healthy, she will pick the Williams sisters rather then teaming her or Serena with doubles expert Huber.
Two other former Fed Cup players who can play both singles and doubles, Vania King and Bethanie Mattek-Sands, have told Fernandez they are available in an emergency, but King has entered Pattaya City and did not want to play Fed Cup unless she was guaranteed to play, as she wants to get her ranking up in hopes of qualifying for the Olympics.
Mattek-Sands, who just came back from a shoulder injury, was also considered. She has entered the qualifying for the Paris Indoors, which is the same week as Fed Cup.
Fernandez added that she believes that Serena, who is contending with an ankle injury and was upset in the fourth round of the Australian Open by Ekaterina Makarova, should be good to go at Fed Cup.—Matt Cronin