SAN DIEGO, Calif.—Clyde the Sea Lion barked, grimaced, bared his teeth and, finally, smiled and flirted with CoCo Vandeweghe. His whiskers tickled Vandeweghe’s cheek, provoking a nervous giggle and slight pull back.
Minutes earlier, U.S. Fed Cup captain Mary Joe Fernandez made the surprise announcement at San Diego’s famed Sea World that the 18-year-old Vandeweghe, and not 19-year-old Melanie Oudin, would be in the starting singles line-up when the United States takes on Italy in tomorrow’s Fed Cup final. If Vandeweghe was edgy about being kissed by a seal, imagine what it will feel like when she takes the court in front of 3,500 fans, friends, family members and neighbors from her hometown of Rancho Santa Fe, a 40-minute drive north on Interstate 5.
With Oudin looking on stoically and publicly maintaining that what’s good for the team is good for her, even as she glanced down at her sneakers while her teammate’s name was announced, the 6-foot-1 Vandeweghe became the first American woman to make her Fed Cup debut in a final tie since Chanda Rubin played against Spain in 1995. Rubin lost her maiden match to Conchita Martinez, but beat Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario in a meaningless match after Spain had already clinched the Cup.
Vandeweghe will meet Italy’s No. 1, Francesca Schiavone, in the opening match tomorrow, followed by Bethanie Mattek-Sands contesting Flavia Pennetta. On Sunday, Mattek-Sands will meet Schiavone and then, assuming the Italians haven’t already clinched, Vandeweghe will play Pennetta. If the tie comes down to the decisive doubles match, Oudin and doubles specialist Liezel Huber will take on Sara Errani and Roberta Vinci. This is all subject to change, however, as Captain Fernandez has until 15 minutes before match time to make a substitution.
“Basically, we had three singles players that could play and we took a lot into consideration, including the surface and the opponents,” said Fernandez, who has led her team to their second consecutive Fed Cup final, both against Italy. Last year, the very same Italian side swept Oudin, Alexa Glatch, Huber and Vania King, 4-0, in Calabria, Italy. “Yesterday, after a day of practice, we picked Bethanie to play, knowing that she was our highest ranked, that she would play at the end of the first day. Then, thinking of who the best match-up for Schiavone would be—she’s such a different style of player than our players are accustomed to—we decided [to go] with CoCo. With her height, her serve, her ability to really hit the ball up here, that’s a good choice to start the day. Had it been reversed, Melanie probably would have started against Pennetta because she matches up very well against her. So it was really a match-up decision.”
Much has been made of the missing Sisters, as in top-tenners Serena and Venus, and their omnipresent injuries. (Venus’ knee has been bothering her since the U.S. Open and Serena re-injured the tendon in her foot that she says was cut by glass just after Wimbledon in July.) And just as much is being made of the fact that the top American, Mattek-Sands, is ranked lower (No. 58 in the WTA rankings) than the lowest Italian, Errani, who is No. 42.
But the fact is, the United States reached the final of this year’s Fed Cup—and last year’s as well—without the Williams sisters, who haven’t played Fed Cup since 2007. The sisters have maintained that they want to play in the 2012 London Olympics, but in order to do so they must make themselves available for two Fed Cup ties beforehand; at the very least, they must show up and cheer, even if injured. No need to bring binoculars and scan the bleachers for them this weekend—the Sisters will not be in residence.
After an easy win against France in Lievin in February, the Americans bullied their way past Elena Dementieva and her Russian teammates in a home semifinal tie (Birmingham). Mattek-Sands was the hero, claiming back-to-back singles and doubles wins on Sunday to capture the victory.
The Italians figure to be another difficult challenge, even though the Americans will be competing on a slick indoor hard court, as opposed to the slow red clay of last year’s final. (Oudin likened that slow surface to playing on “mud.”) Mattek-Sands has never played Schiavone and is 1-4 against Pennetta, with their last meeting in 2008. Oudin is 0-5 collectively against the four members of the Italian squad.
“I’m always excited to play top players, “said Mattek-Sands, who just before the draw ceremony dropped her wedding ring into a pool of circling dolphins while trying to playfully scare them, forcing a nearby trainer to jump into the water and fetch the piece of jewelry. “They’re both obviously highly ranked. Francesca’s coming off her French Open win this year. I think they feel pretty confident.”
Heading into last year’s final in Italy, the Americans showed plenty of bravado, but were squashed, failing to win a set in singles. This year, they are clearly the underdogs and all know it.
“Going into [the final] last year I said, we walk the walk and talk the talk kind of thing,” said the 34-year-old Huber, who played Fed Cup for her native South Africa before becoming a U.S. citizen and joining the American team in 2008. “In hindsight, I think that was a bit cocky. I just thought we would go in there and sweep them seeing that we had such a good run throughout the year. Now, coming into this Fed Cup, we’ve had a great run but now we take it match by match, game by game. We’re going to have a more mellow attitude. We’re going to try our hardest, give our best. That’s what Mary Joe has created for this team.
“With these young players on the team, they’re so talented and they work so hard,” added Huber, who acts and sounds like an octogenarian tending to her grandchildren. “So, really, we’re just going to go out there for the first point.”
Then, as if she were Clyde the Sea Lion giving her teammate one gigantic lick in the face, Huber turned to Vandeweghe and exhorted, “CoCo, you better serve an ace on that first point.”