KB Fed Cup World Group Qualification - report & photos by Jorn Hansen
Universitair Sport Centrum, Amsterdam 21/07/99 - 24/07/99

A few weeks ago Lindsey, co-webmaster NZ Online, told me that Natasha was coming to Holland to play Fed Cup. After thinking about it for some time, I asked her for more information about it. Natasha's country, Belarus, and 7 other nations had to play Fed Cup qualification. The winner would get the last spot in the World Group in the year 2000.

After travelling 11 hours by coach from Denmark, I arrived in Amsterdam on Tuesday, July 20, the same day the draws were taking place. Not much was going on at the Universitair Sport Centrum when I arrived at about 9.30am, but at 10 am the first players start to come - the teams from Holland and Argentina. Bollegraf (Hol) was driving a Porsche. Other teams drove 'funny looking' smart cars. Paola Suarez (Arg) seemed to be the leader of her team. She drove and walked in front. Suarez and Montalvo had just won a double tournament in Sopot (Poland) a couple of days before.

From 10.00 - 11.30, lots of activities were going on. Trucks came and went. Many people seemed to be coming to see the draws even though it was "Not open for the public" as they told me in an e-mail. I forgot my camera in my bags at the Central Station so I had to travel back to get it! I had to walk about a mile to the metro station, so first at about 13.00 I returned to the Sport Centrum and 10 min. later I SAW HER for the first time IN PERSON - NATASHA!! She and some others were on their way   to leave the "VIP Zone", and go out the main entrance of the courts. Out on the street courts, they split up. Natasha and her dad went to the left and the others went to the right. Someone at the Sport Centrum information told me the players were staying in a hotel nearby, so I thought Natasha and her dad just walked back to the hotel. From the courts you can see a big sign of the hotel name.

Draw result
Poule A: Belarus, Japan, Holland, Slovenia
Poule B: Australia, Argentina, Romania, Chinese Taipei

Belarussian team
1. Natasha Zvereva, playing coach
2. Olga Barabanschikova
3. Tatiana Poutchek
4. Nadejda Ostrovkskaya

Mr. Marat Zverev was the only person to accompany the Belarussian team.

Day 1 - training
Every day the tennis matches start at 13.00 hrs, but before they start, they practiced on same court as they later played their match on. Yesterday after Natasha was heading for her hotel, I saw her leaving the "VIP Zone" and read a sign over the entrance "If you have a valid ticket you can enter" (text was in Dutch, but I could understand what it means). I had a "passe partout" ticket (thanks Lindsey!).

When I arrived at the Sport Centrum at 10.00 hrs, I just went to the courts even though ticket sales office not was open yet. Because it was still early, there were no guards yet, and no one asked to see my ticket. You could just walk in and see them practice! There were 5 tennis courts here, a center court, court 1-3 and a training court (court 4).

A Romanian player who was unfamiliar to me at that time, Raluca Sandu, was having a hard workout with a coach on the training court. The practice   seemed to have started on all courts. As they always practice on the same court where they later have to play, it was easy to know on what court I could find Natasha and Olga B., or to see Dokic practice (I had a paper which said what matches were played on what court). The tennis stadium was not so big, so I could stand at the right place and watch what going on on all four courts. It was also easy to find a seat because there were only a few people here to watch them practice.

The Dutch player, Oremans, was on center court. The team from Taipei was on court 1, so I walked over to court 2 and 3 to see what all the "fuss" with Jelena Dokic was all about. I was not too impressed to see all the famous players here at the stadium, so I just sat down in 'peace and quiet' and watched her hit with another Aussie player. She still has a long ponytail and wore black short when she practiced. It's a good place to sit on court 2 because you can see who are coming to the courts. After some time, I saw Mr. Zverev and two Belarussian players standing on the practice court. They seemed to be waiting for someone! Belarus' 4th player is Nadejda Ostrovskaya (dark hair). The other is Tatiana Poutchek (blond hair). Their 1st player is, of course, Natasha and their 2nd is Olga Barabanschikova, and they were waiting for just those two...

The sun was not shining, but Natasha wore sun glasses as she always does, yellow shorts and white shirt. They didn't do any warm up. They just started to hit. This first practice I saw was interrupted by rain for few minutes. The players left the court for a short break. Also, the Aussie team left but  they all returned after few minutes just to hit for 10-15 minutes before a new shower came. Later, they came back and practiced for about 30 min. Mr. Zverev sat and watched them practice. He also stood on the court and gave them the balls. I didn't notice him doing anything like the other team's coaches did. Natasha and Olga seemed to be their own coach, which I think is a bit rare.

Dutch player Oremans didn't care about a little bit of rain. She just continued to practice and work on her serve!

DAY 1 - play
Every day the 2nd player of the team starts to play the first match, followed by the match of the team's 1st players. The first match on was Olga vs Tina Pisnik (SLO). On the court behind me Romania plays vs Chinese Taipei. Even though I was coming down to Holland to watch Natasha play, i was also dying to see Dragomir play...

Ines G. was set to play for Argentina the official schedule, but she was not on the team. Maybe she still has problems with that injury she got during a Wimbledon match vs. Kournikova. There wasn't a big crowd at court 2, but some Dutch Olga fans showed up. Natasha sat on the bench with Olga. Mr. Zverev and the other two Belarus players, Tatiana and Nadejda, sat on chairs behind the bench just in front of me (Natasha sat about 4 yards from the crowd). The captain of Slovenia sat near the court. The other Slovenian players sat in the crowd. They cheered almost every time Pisnik won a point. The Dutch fans in the crowd made a lot of noise when Olga won a point (even though I don't remember any horns on the first day). I think there were about 30 people in the crowd when Olga started to play. Tina's fans had a lot to cheer for at the start of the match, because it wasn't long before Olga was down 0-5. Some Dutch fans were dressed up in orange clothes. From time to time, they left to go to Center Court where Holland was playing.

The first match of the day was not very good for the Dutch fans. Oremans played badly and lost it easily to Miho Saeki (Japan). On court 1, Cristea (Rom) won her match, so I left my seat behind the Belarus bench to watch somewhere so I could see when Dragomir would enter court 1.

After Belarus finished their 1st single match, the players left the court for a 20 min. break. That's when I had some time to see what was going on with the other teams. I noticed almost every time when an Aussie player or Dutch player came to the bench (after playing two games), the coach would raise from the bench. I only saw Natasha raise 1 or 2 times when she was angry about a bad call. Olga lost the 1st set, but she started to play better and won the next two sets. Olga was one big smile after she won her match and Natasha greeted her. A Dutch fan gave Olga a t-shirt and when she returned from the 20 minutes break, she wore it.

Now it was time to watch Dragomir play. She was in all white shirt and skirt and seemed to be very sun burnt and her hair was red. In the 1st set she had some problems with, for me, an unknown girl from Taipei who won the set in a tiebreaker, before Dragomir moved up a gear and won next two sets 6-2 6-2.

It was 15.40 hrs when Natasha and Katarina Srebotnik returned to the court and started their warm up. Natasha had changed shoes from those Adidas clothes she wore when Olga played to Yonex now (the Belarussian team wore blue Adidas outfits). She wore a blue shirt, but because it was cold and windy they started to play in trousers. I noticed Natasha's skirt was laying on the bench. After some games, she just put on the skirt and pulled down the trousers! She had a few difficulties in the 1st set (7-5), but in the 2nd set Natasha must have found another speed because she won it 6-0!

At this time Dragomir had won and the Dutch player had won, so all the crowd went to court 3 to see Dokic play because no one else was playing. Dokic played vs the 'leader' from Argentina, Suarez. Dokic won the 1st set 6-4 and after a break and rebreak, she served to win 2nd set 7-5. Australia, Romania and Belarus were now all up 2-0, Holland and Japan had to decide their tie in the doubles.

Now we can continue with the 'fun' of the day - the start of Natasha and Olga's doubles match vs. Tina Kirzan and Katarina Srebotnik. The match started at about 18.00. Slovenia started to serve and won the 1st point, score 15-0. Now Natasha asked the umpire how far they have to play in this match!! She asked "Do we 'just' play 3 tiebreaks to decide it?" The umpire said, "No, we play 3 whole sets, with tiebreaker in 3th set to decide it". It was easy to see on Natasha's face that she just didn't believe this could be true! After some arguing with the umpire, they sent a linesman to ask the referee what they had to do. Natasha sat down and Olga made some jokes with her fans who showed up again. I didn't hear what the linesman said when he came back, but they started to play again. Later, Jane Harvey, the referee, came and explained to Natasha, "that we have to do what we always do when we play Fed Cup...and you should be the first to know it..." (sorry, but she said so).

The Belarus team won the match 3-6, 6-3 and 6-1. After the match, Natasha and Olga both signed autographs, and some children had their photo taken together with them. This time the guard followed them out of the courts, but when they came to the entrance gate where also the door to the cafe was, Olga said to the guard that he doesn't have to take care of her anymore, "I will just sit and wait for Natasha". Later when I left the cafe again, she still sat there and seemed to be calling someone with her mobile phone...don't ask me who she was calling because I didn't see it.

I had to watch the double decider of Holland vs Japan. It was now 20.10 hrs. and the score was 4-3 in the 3rd set. I also saw Mr. Zverev in that about 200 people big crowd. A few Japanese fans were there to cheer for their team. The Dutch duo Bollegraf/Vis made a break to take a 5-3 lead. The only thing I still remember from that match was Vis shouting "Out" and the ball just went out. The Dutch team won the 3rd set and that won them the tie.

Results day 1
Belarus - Slovenia 3-0
Holland - Japan 2-1
Australia - Argentina 3-0
Romania - Chinese Taipei 3-0

Day 2 - start
Rain...I came to the Sport Centrum at 10.30 hrs. As the ticket sale office and cafe were not open yet, I just passed the "You can enter if you have a ticket only " sign! Dutch player Oremans was practicing on Center court (due to the plan Belarus should play vs Holland on Center court today). I didn't see much of Oremans' match yesterday, but in the papers they write she was been playing badly, so she had some work to do. Belarus players, Tatiana and Nadejda, were practicing on court 4. Mr. Zverev was giving them some directions from time to time. Dokic and Pratt were hitting on court 1, so I just sat at the gate and watch then while I could follow the Belarussians practice on the other court at the same time! Later I saw Tina Pisnik and Katarina Srebotnik pass by and go to court 3. After the Aussie team finished on court 1, I went over that court to see the Slovenians practice. Just before 11.00 hrs, it started to rain a little and 20 minutes later everybody left the courts due to that now stronger rain. I noticed Pisnik the day before, when she finished her match with Olga she came back and sat together with some others from Slovenia. She would cheer when Srebotnik won a point in her match against Natasha. At another time I saw her stand in the court area and speak with some fans and other players.

The cafe had still not opened yet, so I went to the Sport Centrum information/bar area. This room changed and was now the room where the linesmen and ballkids sat and waited before they had to do their job. The guard just asked to see my ticket, but didn't ask what I had to do up there. When I passed the guard I expected to be in the bar/info room because it was a bar/info room on Tuesday. Now they had split this room in two, so people who came to the Sport Centrum to practice were not able to go to the tennis courts which is exactly whatI did when I came on Tuesday. I was sitting there and writing this stuff and also read some papers until about 13.40 hrs. It was still raining.. during these hours many people were sitting here, but at one point all seemed to leave. Later a man came and told me that all matches on that day would be played indoors in another tennis complex. There were only about 200 seats at the indoor 'Center Court' where Holland and Belarus were playing and no one could see the other matches as there were no seats). I followed the other people to the new tennis complex about 1000 metres away and sat in the bar area and waiting for them to allow us to go to the courts.

I first saw Natasha that day when she came out to the bar and seemed to be looking for someone. When she didn't find the person she was looking for, she walked to the dressing room area again. Later when we were standing in a queue for a short time, she and other players almost had to force their way to the dressing room.

Day 2 - play
The organizers of this Fed Cup event had not impressed me too much until now, but now I must say they surprised me! Four courts had been prepared indoors, so all teams could play at the same time. Maybe the light was not very good, but Dutch NOS TV was able to record the matches so the light must have been OK for them. Almost all Belarus supporters from the day before had been able to find this new venue. Mr. Zverev was sitting and waiting on a chair for the crowd, but later they moved some chairs over behind the player bench (3 chairs for Belarus and 10 for the Dutch helpers and reserve team!).

I found a seat almost right behind the Belarus bench. Even though they said that we could only see this match vs Holland, it was no problem watching Slovenia vs Japan because they played on a nearby court. At 15.40 hrs., the players entered the court. First the Dutch team and later Olga and Natasha. The expression on their faces wasn't too happy. Maybe they were not happy about having to play indoors or maybe they were afraid of the Dutch crowd...there were no free chairs about 220 in the crowd and many people were standing behind. Again today Natasha was sitting with Olga on the bench and when they started to play Tatiana, Nadejda and Mr. Zverev sat behind the bench. The Dutch crowd were cheering for every point won by Oremans. About 10 Japanese fans were sitting in the other end of the hall. They clapped every time Miho Saeki won a point, so I don't think it was very easy to be Olga on court! Saeki played against my favourite from Slovenia, Tina, so it was not to easy even for me to concentrate and keep track of the scores.

Oremans started to serve. Olga lost her serve to go down 1-3 and Oremans won the 1st set 6-4. In the 2nd set, they both held serve to 3-3. After a long next game Olga broke Oremans' serve and some fans 'blew theirs horns'. Due to the sound I think some of the Dutch fans must have done it by a mistake... we (about 8-10 Belarus fans) clapped when Olga won a point, but about 100 clapped when Oremans won a point. Olga won the 2nd set 6-4. The 3rd set started at 17.25 hrs. Again in this set, Oremans broke to 1-3. Olga broke back to 3-4, Olga held easily to 4-4 and then broke to 5-4! After lots of fight Oremans broke back to 5-5. For the first time, Natasha rose from the bench and argued with the umpire about a bad call. Every time Oremans came to her bench, her coach would rise from the bench, but Natasha sat down all the time. Mr. Zverev clapped and shouted 'brava' from time to time when Olga won a point and the two other players from Belarus clapped too. Olga lost the next two games and the set 5-7.

I am sorry I did not follow it too close because on the other court behind Tina Pisnik made a fantastic comeback in her match against Saeki! It was easy to follow the score from the other court. Tina was behind 1-4, if not 1-5, at 5-5 Saeki took an injury time out due to some problem with her foot and at same time as Olga lost, Tina won the 3rd set 7-5 and the match!

Only Mr. Zverev was sitting and waiting for Natasha's match. Almost all the Dutch fansh went to the bar. Now I had some time to see how other teams were doing. The two best Aussie girls, Pratt and Dokic, won their match. For some reason, Raluca Sandu today played the 1st match for Romania and lost to Diaz (Arg). I could watch Dragomir playing by looking through the door just few meters away.

After a short time the Belarus team came back again. Olga was able to find something to eat and soon after that I saw Tatiana bring her some more. I was not able to see what it was, but I saw Tatiana and Nadejda sit and eat some potato chips. Here at the bar of the Popeye Goldstar tennis club, you could buy a almost any hot meal you wanted. At the Sport Centrum they only had some expensive sandwiches (6 to 8 dutch guilders (3 to 4 dollar) for a sandwich is expensive I think, but maybe it's the normal price at tournaments. A small beer or water cost 3 guilders (1.5 dollar)).

I said a lot about what was going on outside the tennis courts in Amsterdam. If all locker rooms are taken you have to pay 10 guilders to be so lucky so leave 1 bag at the Centraal Station, it's also the price you have to pay for a one day metro ticket. My late meal at McDonald's cost 9 guilders, I went there because it was fast! After 8-10 hours on the tennis courts (there was no time to go and buy a sandwich when Olga or Natasha were playing!) I just want to go back to the hotel and rest and didn't want to spend hours waiting in some restaurant. I spent 5 days in Amsterdam, but didn't see much else than tennis!

This day was also going to be a long day as Natasha and Boogert started to warm up at 18.45 hrs. and there was still a doubles match to come. Natasha was in all blue Yonex clothes and she wear glasses (not sunglasses). At this time, Srebotnik and Ai Sugiyama had started to play on another court, just 3 meters from this court and still the Japanese fans were clapping for every point won by Ai. The Dutch crowd had also returned to their seats and were ready to cheer for Boogert. There were only a few Belarus fans left to watch it. Boogert had the first break point at 1-2, but Natasha served an ace! 2-2 both hold serve to 4-4. After that game, Natasha spoke to the umpire for a few moments but this was not easy to hear even though I was still sitting only a few meters away from the Belarus bench. The next game was won by Boogert but Natasha had a break point. Now it was Natasha's serve, but she lost it and the 1st set. Boogert broke quickly and Natasha was down 0-4. We Natasha fans know a match is not over before the last ball is played (remember Eastbourne!). Natasha broke back 2 times, the last break was a very long game. It's 4-5 and Natasha to serve. At that time the Japanese doubles players on the other court started to warm up again. She lost her serve and the match 4-6 4-6. Afterwards I read in a paper that Natasha was not happy about those others playing so nearby. She also said she was tired after that singles and doubles match of the day before.

After a short break everybody returned to the court again for the doubles match. The Belarus coach, Natasha, decided to let Tatiana and Nadejda play the doubles! Coach and players were sitting on the bench together. Olga and Mr. Zverev were sitting behind them, Olga most of the time with her feet up on the bench and she seemed to be playing some sort of game on her mobile phone?! The Dutch duo Bollegraf and Vis are a very good doubles team. Bollegraf has won many doubles titles and also a Grand Slam mixed doubles title. She also won the World Doubles Cup twice. Caroline Vis belongs to the group just outside the best Natasha, Hingis, Novotna, Davenport and Kournikova. I have been following many, many doubles matches on the net and have also seen Vis's name set on some topics and scoreboards... I don't know much about those two girls from Belarus, but before the match I didn't expect them to have any chance to win. They lost easily 2-6 2-6.

A long day was over and we all needed to rest before the final day. The Belarus team still have a small chance of making the final...

Result day 2
Belarus - Holland 0-3
Australia - Chinese Taipei 3-0
Argentina - Romania 2-1
Japan - Slovenia 2-1

Day 3 - play
After the loss to Holland yesterday, the only way to the final for Belarus, was to beat Japan 3-0. This was maybe the easy part, because Slovenia had to beat Holland 3-0 too! Slovenia had lost the first two matches, so they didn't  have much to play for. Romania and Australia were playing on Center Court and Holland was playing on court 3. Belarus played on Court 1.

From 11.50 - 12.30 Natasha and Olga were practicing. They returned at just past 13.00 hrs. to start their first match. As on all other days, Olga plays the first match and this time against Yuka Yoshida. I saw Miho Saeki sit just few meters away, but today she was only set to play in doubles. Tina Pisnik (Slo) showed up to be the nice girl she looks like and beat Oremans (Hol) in their 1st single match - 2-1 in sets and the final set score was 10-8! The next step in the plan was Olga to win her match. The player from Japan she has to play is ranked about #160 on the WTA ranking, Olga is ranked #60. I do not know if Natasha and Olga really thought they had a chance to reach the final, but I must say Olga tried her best to win. It took her 3h 30 min to win in 3 sets 6-4, 5-7, 10-8! The score was now Belarus - Japan 1-0, Slovenia - Holland 1- 0!

I forgot to mention the 'match on the day', Dragomir vs Dokic. After Olga's match there was some time to check it out. What surprised me was the few people watching this match. Dokic is only allowed to play in a few tournaments on the WTA tour because she's only 16, so it's maybe a long time before another Dragomir vs Dokic match, and I was sure it would take a long time (if ever) before I could be able to watch them play only a few meters from me! Dragomir won the 1st set 6-2 and was the best player and won the 2nd set 7-5! At this time, Nicole Pratt won the 1st singles match and Australia was sure to be in the final.

After this match I followed the second match of Slovenia vs Holland, Srebotink vs Boogert. Srebotnik won the 1st set 6-2! It was now 16.40 hrs. and Natasha and Japan player Asagoe started their warm up. Today we couldn't sit behind the players' bench, but we sat at the other side of the court and could see Natasha and Olga's faces during breaks! Mr. Zverev and two other Belarus players sit just a few meters in front of me (see the pics I hope Lindsey will put on!). The Japanese girl is only ranked about #140 on WTA. Natasha didn't seem to be too tired after the late matches yesterday, but   she lost the 1st set 5-7.

The Dutch player Boogert won the 2nd set vs Srebotnik (Slo) and it was easy to hear something going on there in that match from where I sat on court 1, so during Natasha's 2nd set I could see what was going on there! The score was now 6-6 in 3nd set and there was no tiebreak to be played in the final set, both hold to 7-7 and Boogert to serve. Srebotnik won the first 2 point to 0-30, she thought she also won the next point but the linesman called it out. As I did not see the whole match, I don't know  if there were many bad calls against Srebotnik. But after this last call shethrew her raquet away and shouted "I don't want to play anymore!" She looked like she meant it! I prayed to God she would play on because she had to win her match to give Belarus a chance of reacing the final. She argued with the chair umpire, but her coach made her play again. Boogert held her serve and was able to win the 3th set 10-8. During the last points in that match, I stood in the area between the courts so I could also watch Natasha play. Standing there, I also saw the Dutch players, Bollegraf and Vis. They seemed to be watching Natasha play and ONLY listened to the Dutch crowd. They were afraid to watch what was going on in the Boogert vs Srebotnik match...

Natasha won the 2nd set 6-3. Because Holland was in the final now I could sit and watch the last set of Natasha's match in peace and quiet. The 3rd set started at 18.30 hrs and after a 3 hours match she won the last set 7-5. For only the second time during what I saw of this match, Olga jumped up from the bench. Afterwards, Natasha sat on the bench for a long time and seemed to be very tired. The Japanese coach tried to cheer up his player who sat down and cried. This part is not to easy to write because it was the last time i saw Natasha. She walked off the court followed by a guard. The doubles match was not played because Holland already had made the final. After being able to watch her play and see her sit on the bench for 3 days for many, many hours - the NZ show was over, and it was a great show!!

Result 3rd day
Belarus - Japan 2-0
Holland - Slovenia 1-2
Argentina - Taipei 3-0
Australia - Romania 2-1
Holland and Australia to meet in the final.

Finals day
Today the music was playing when I arrived on the the courts, the other days there was no music at the Center Court. Sky Radio was a sponsor of the tournament and during the 1st set the music continued even when they played, not loud but everybody could hear it. After the player presentation and national anthems the scene was set for the final. Not many seats were empty today and it's not easy to be a 'small Dane' between all those Dutch. Nicole Pratt vs Miriam Oremans was the 1st singles match. After a long match the Aussie girl won it in 3 set 4-6, 6-3, 10-8. A women sitting next to me was cheering very loudly for the Dutch player, but after the final ball, all seem to be quiet in the crowd...

Next match to be played was Kristie Boogert (Hol) vs Jelena Dokic. I lost a possible Dutch friend (that women sitting next to me) after saying Dokic will win it easy :-) Boogert tried her best, but after a tight first set which Dokic won 7-5, the Aussiegirl also won a more easy 2nd set 6-2 and the final.

One thing I noticed during this tournament, was that unlike what Claire said during Eastbourne, here in Amsterdam everyone seemed to know Natasha. Not just the die hard fans, but also people just passing by the courts.

Report and photos
Jorn Hansen
jorn@hansen.dk