Kuznetsova: Cup pay might improve team

Svetlana Kuznetsova says that if the Russian tennis federation compensated its players for competing in Fed Cup, more of the country’s best players might decide to play. Russia lost to Serbia in the semifinals on Sunday, without its two top-ranked players, Maria Sharapova and Vera Zvonareva. No. 2 Sharapova had agreed to play the first-round tie this year but not the second, while No. 10 Zvonareva was planning on playing against Serbia but had a shoulder injury.

"If more money were allocated, it would be possible to improve the situation, possible to make the best players play," Kuznetsova told RIA Novosti. "If you love to play for your country, that’s one thing, but if you play for the sake of the Olympics or something else, that’s another."

Two-time Grand Slam champion Kuznetsova added that her generation of players was more motivated than the current crop.

"We didn’t have the funding either, but our generation, Kournikova, Myskina, Dementieva, Safina and I, many other girls, overcame that. Everything was completely different," Kuznetsova said. "But now those playing tennis are either the children of very wealthy people, who have nothing to strive for or those who can’t play, who have nowhere to go."