Spanish captain Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario decides not to name her country's highest-ranked player to the Fed Cup team that will face Slovakia because she thinks that Anabel Medina Garrigues might disrupt team chemistry.
"I have not chosen Anabel because she is not at her best, which can be seen in her results, and because it is quite problematic when a player does not get along with other players," Sanchez-Vicario said. "In Fed Cup you must have good atmosphere, fellowship, and she is not together with the rest of the players on this."
Sanchez-Vicario not only left No. 26 Medina Garrigues off the team for next week's tie in Marbella, but also left off No. 65 Carla Suarez Navarro, instead choosing No. 64 Silvia Soler-Espinosa, No. 111 Lourdes Dominguez Lino, No. 166 Arantxa Parra Santonja, and No. 168 Nuria Llagostera Vives.
Medina Garrigues, who has played 33 Fed Cup matches, told El Pais, "I understand that a captain is free to choose the team she considers, but to personally attack me and smear my image I think is out of line. I always tried to help Spain in the 10 years I've been representing it. I get along with some people better than others; that is the law of life. But that does not mean I want to stop playing for Spain. Let my mother come out and say that I am troubled, okay, because she's known me for 30 years. But Arantxa does not understand."
After the story broke in Spain on Wednesday, Sanchez-Vicario then released a statement saying: "It was not my intention in any way disparage Anabel Medina, whom I respect as a player and her commitment to the national team. I apologize if I have not learned to express myself correctly. I decided not to have Anabel Medina and Carla Suarez for the tie against Slovakia for purely technical issues."