Cup captaincy for Erakovic
Marina Erakovic is set to be appointed as the new captain of New Zealand’s Fed Cup team.
Sources have told the Sunday Star-Times that Erakovic, New Zealand’s best singles player over the past decade, has accepted an invitation to take over the team for next February’s event in Wellington at the Renouf Centre.
The 31-year-old Erakovic replaces Sacha Hughes (nee Jones) who resigned from her post after just one event, in Malaysia in June.
Erakovic reached No 39 in the world during her career, winning one WTA singles title.
While on the circuit, Erakovic was often forced to prop up the New Zealand Fed Cup team as the lone player inside the top 100, while there was also a period when the country scrapped having a Fed Cup team to save costs.
However, Erakovic’s support for New Zealand tennis was unwavering, rarely turning down an opportunity to represent her country. In all, she won 26 and lost 12 of her Fed Cup matches.
Erakovic announced her retirement a year ago, having had to endure too many injuries that impacted the last few years of her career.
When she announced her retirement last December – over a year since her last match – Erakovic said she wanted to have some time away from the game, but she indicated that she would like to get involved again at some point.
‘‘Tennis will always be a part of my life, but for now I want to step out of that world and experience new things,’’ Erakovic said last year.
‘‘Throughout my career I have been chipping away with my studies and so far I have completed two thirds of an economics degree through Massey University.
‘‘I have one year left to go and I will be finishing this next year at the University of Auckland. After this, I am open to all new possibilities.’’
Captaining the Fed Cup team will allow Erakovic to get back into tennis, but it will be a while before she can contemplate taking the team to the world group. New Zealand are currently in Asia/Oceania Group II.
New Zealand’s highest ranked player is Paige Hourigan at 439 in the WTA rankings, while the rest of the team for Wellington is expected to be Emily Fanning (606), Valentina Ivanov (814) and Erin Routliffe (874).
The other countries competing in Wellington will be Bangladesh, Guam, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Pakistan, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Turkmenistan, with just one nation advancing to Asia/Oceania Group I.
Erakovic will be the third New Zealand captain in 2019, with Neil Carter resigning in February after just 15 months in the job.
Carter was popular with the players, but had issues with Tennis NZ, which led to him deciding to walk away from the job.
Tennis NZ chief executive
Julie Paterson said she was delighted to have someone of Erakovic’s calibre come on board.
‘‘I know that Simon [Tennis NZ high performance director Simon Rea] had been having some positive conversations with Marina,’’ Paterson said.
‘‘From our perspective it was really important that if possible we were able to find a strong female lead to take the role of Fed Cup captain.
‘‘It’s an absolute win for our sport to have someone who has been one of our most successful female tennis players in New Zealand coming back and want to be supporting and developing the next layer of players coming through.’’
Having someone who had the career Erakovic did, means she will instantly earn the respect from the players.
‘‘Sacha gave it a really good shot and was really committed, but felt that it was probably a bit soon after her tennis career,’’ Paterson said.
‘‘So having someone with the seniority and credibility that Marina brings to the sport adds a lot to that role.’’