'Better late than never' - Pavlyuchenkova revels in Prague redemption

05/11/2021 16:00

Russian Tennis Federation captain Igor Andreev reflected on how far the World Champions have come since relegation following the 2015 final, a painful moment now exorcised for Pavlyuchenkova

By Reem Abulleil
'Better late than never' - Pavlyuchenkova revels in Prague redemption

As he sat among his players, trying to find the words to describe how he felt about their Billie Jean King Cup triumph, Russian Tennis Federation captain Igor Andreev could not help but reflect on the long road they trekked in order to clinch this title. 

When Andreev took over the reins of the team from Anastasia Myskina back in April 2018, they lost the first tie he oversaw – a home play-off to Latvia – and were relegated to the Europe/Africa Group I. 

A proud captain

That defeat kick-started an incredible journey that saw the Russians win nine consecutive ties – a streak that began in Poland in February 2019 and climaxed with a sensational 2-0 victory over Switzerland in the Billie Jean King Cup final in Prague on Saturday. 

“I’m very proud, maybe this word doesn’t describe all the feelings I have,” said Andreev, who guided RTF to their fifth title in the competition, and first since 2008. 

“The girls were amazing this week. It was an amazing week, not only this week, the whole journey. At some point we were pretty low in the Zone Groups in Poland, so everything started from there and most of the girls were there from the beginning. 

“This journey also means a lot, the commitment and everything, what they’ve done over the last couple of years, and now we’re here with the trophy, so that’s amazing. I’m so proud and I’m very happy to be part of this team.”

A long road to glory

Both Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and Daria Kasatkina were present at those zonal ties in Poland two years ago, and they also provided valuable points for RTF this week in the Czech capital.

Pavlyuchenkova, “The Boss” of the squad as her rookie team-mate Liudmila Samsonova refers to her, was on a six-match winning streak in the competition until she lost a three-set heartbreaker to Danielle Collins in RTF’s 2-1 win over USA in the semi-finals on Friday. 

The 30-year-old was unable to compete in Saturday’s final due to a knee injury, but played a huge part in leading RTF to this prestigious trophy. It capped an incredible 2021 campaign for the world No. 12, who earlier in the year made her first Grand Slam final at Roland Garros and clinched mixed doubles gold at the Tokyo Olympics alongside Andrey Rublev. 

“It’s an incredible year, I couldn’t have imagined that I would finish this amazing year on this note because it was incredible. Olympic medal, first Grand Slam final, and I couldn’t imagine I would finish with this medal here,” said Pavlyuchenkova. 

“It’s funny that Igor remembered Poland, where we were really low, playing the group zone matches, we weren’t even in the World Group and I came there after the Australian Open and the only thing, I swear, I had in mind, ‘I want so badly to win the World Cup with the girls with the team’, but I thought it’s so far ahead. 

“So we started there and it’s an incredible journey and I’m so grateful for my year.”

Redemption for Nastia

For Pavlyuchenkova, this week’s success has helped her banish some painful memories from the 2015 final RTF lost against Czech Republic at the very same venue, Prague’s O2 Arena. 

The Samara-native made her Billie Jean King Cup debut in 2009, and waited 12 years to finally get her hands on the trophy. 

“I guess it’s better late than never,” said Pavlyuchenkova with a smile.  

“Six years ago I was playing here the final where Maria Sharapova won all her singles and we just needed one point that I couldn’t give them, so that was probably the worst day of my life; but I overcame this and that also made me stronger I guess.

“But the main point I would like to say, when you play team competition it’s about the team, it’s not about yourself and I think I’ve learned that and I wanted to bring as much as possible encouragement and positive energy to all the girls.”

A star is born

Pavlyuchenkova was particularly impressed by her 22-year-old team-mate Liudmila Samsonova, who emerged as a new star on a loaded RTF roster that was exclusively comprised of top-40 players. 

In her first ever appearance in the competition, Samsonova went 3-0 in doubles and 2-0 in singles, securing the winning point for RTF in the final with a hard-fought three-set victory over Switzerland’s Belinda Bencic. 

“It’s a dream coming true, I have too many emotions right now, it’s unbelievable what is happening now,” said Samsonova on Saturday. 

“I’m so, so happy for all the team, for the team that we are; I think that was our strength. 

“Of course it was an incredible experience, I tried to learn from every moment of this week and I hope it’s going to be very important for my future.”

‘We’ll come back stronger’

The Swiss were disappointed to miss out on a chance to win their first Billie Jean King Cup final and vowed to bounce back stronger. 

Captain Heinz Guenthardt, who has led the team since 2012, was not pleased that RTF made a late change in their nominations by subbing in Samsonova for an injured Pavlyuchenkova, but still praised the Russians for their superior form in the final. 

“That was slightly unfortunate I thought because the whole tournament has been held in a very good spirit. Did that throw us off? Yes it did,” said Guenthardt. 

“Are we going to come back? You bet we’re going to come back. And they are a young team, they’re only getting better. And I don’t think it has something to do with losing in the finals. We simply would like to win this cup. 

“The men won their [Davis] Cup and the women have never won a cup. We’re the second team to lose in the finals. We’re obviously good enough to be in the finals, and if you’re in the finals, usually you’re good enough to win it. Real success is overcoming failure, but this is not a failure, making the finals is not a failure. So, will we back? Absolutely. Will we be tough to beat? Count on it.”

‘RTF were the better team’

Kasatkina opened the scoring for RTF with a commanding straight-sets victory over Jil Teichmann, who had a perfect 7-0 Billie Jean King Cup record entering the final. Kasatkina brought intensity from the very first to the very last ball of the contest, and gave the Russians the early lead they needed before Samsonova finished the job. 

“I have to say they played really, really well, and they were absolutely the better team,” admitted Guenthardt. 

“In the second singles, Samsonova came up with the goods when she needed to. That played on three, four points, break point here, break point there, that shot on the line or not on the line, so that was extremely tight. But she really came up with the goods. 

“And I thought that Kasatkina played an excellent match, she basically gave nothing away. They played extremely well and they deserve to win because they were, on the day, the better team.”