copravolley

Goodbye champion! I think I first heard about him during the ATP tournament in Monte Carlo (now ATP 1000 but back then it was called something else) in distant 2003. Time flies really fast, because it's been over 20 years Return to competition: on paper Italy and the USA are the strongest now, who can play in 1/2 but in principle anyone can beat anyone here, e.g. today the Netherlands vs Spain. In theory, Sinner can guarantees 1 point in every potential singles matches. Now the question is who will be the 2nd racket in Italy and who possibly played doubles: Sinner with Musetti or Bolelli with Vavassori? I remember that Sinner was scheduled to play Musetti in the doubles at the Paris Olympics before his withdrawal.

Let's do this: You let Jasmine win the 1st cup for Italy tomorrow and we'll send you Sinner to Bratislava for a week of tennis camp with children and youth. Deal?

If Slovakia can hold out mentally, they will probably be a slight favorite. Sramkova and the doubles are in better shape than Paolini and Paolini-Errani. But yesterday Paolini played a great match against Swiatek... I`m not going to predict the final result.

The question is who will be the 2nd racket for Slovakia and for us. I wonder if the Slovak coach won't be send Schmiedlova in the 1st match tomorrow? In Italy will be Bronzetti or Cocciaretto.

6-2, 5-2... Tomorrow will be very hard for us. For me will be ideal 50/50. Will be 2-0 for Italy, 0-2 for Svk or all decider in doubles. I hope that our experience will be key. Today Slovakian doubles it`s fantastic.

Slovak doubles looking very strong.

I don`t know that Paolini can beat Sramkova tomorrow.

Now it`s a 6-2 for Svk in decider doubles and 1-1 in second

I`m not sure whether the military will carry out such an order from Putin and if they don`t, it may be his last order. These are very risky decisions.

If Russia is constantly shooting, why can't Ukraine? I doubt they'll hit big cities in Russia like Moscow, Petersburg etc where civilians are living. If the more military targets and factories are destroyed in Russia, the sooner Tsar Putin will finally sit down for peace talks. For now, he can do whatever it wants, because he can produce everything on its own + Iran and North Korea provide it with equipment and experts.

1-1. You are watching?

I remember when I was a child and I was on holiday with my parents in Tunisia, I think in 1999? We were on a trip to the desert near the border with Algeria. The guide said something like that: Algeria is a few minutes from here but we won't go there because there is a war going on there and it's not safe.

Netanyahu is bad but unfortunately Hamas helps him maintain power. Every attack they make is a reinforcement of Netanyahu's rhetoric about the country's security, etc. In the fall of 2023, Netanyahu was already losing support and then suddenly a big Hamas attack on a festival near the Gaza Strip. Coincidence? It wouldn`t surprise me at all if Netanyahu knew about the plan for this attack but did nothing so that he would then have the tools to maintain his power. I also remember Ariel Sharon - he was probably even more radical than Netanyahu but he had a brain hemorrhage and fell into a coma.

In what year did Algeria free itself from French influence? 1960, exactly?

There are still many people of Jewish origin in Central and Eastern Europe who have nothing to do with the state of Israel. What ties does Zelensky have to the state of Israel? Apart from he waś there as president of Ukraine and speaking in the Knesset? Nothing. In the power circles in Moscow there were/are many people of Jewish origin and what about that? A large part of the power apparatus of the USSR was based on Jews, especially in the years shortly after WWII. Instead of constantly writing about Jews, would be better to tell me which country Algeria has better diplomatic relations with: Tunisia or Egypt?

I`m a bit disappointed with the starts of the Italian team. I was counting on progress from last year. And here it looks like Bagnis is still very uneven. In Cortina there will be 3 competitions with medals to win and it would be a shame not to use our track to win 1-2 medals. The same goes for luge.

On the other hand Errani's serve doesn't make Paolini's task any easier... But Paolini is in a such good shape here, though, that I hope she wins her first title in the old Fed Cup. For Errani, it will be 4: 2009, 2010, 2013. So far, Roberta Vinci has 4 titles with Italy.

This time losing in the final will be a big disappointment for me... Especially since Poland and the Czech Republic are out. Everything depends on Paolini, who can/must win the singles and doubles in the final. The big problem is with Errani's tragic serve... If she served at Paolini's level Italy's chances would be much greater.

Errani's serve is terrible... She served much better when she had good results in singles some years ago.

Why Schmidlova doesn`t play? I'm for Slovakia, because it's an easier opponent than UK in final. UK has 2 strong players from the top 100. Slovakia only 1 if Schmidlova doesn't play.

I forgot about Cibulkova...

Hantuchova was the best Slovakian tennis women player in history?

According to bookmakers Poland and Great Britain are the clear favorites in 1/2. Considering that Swiatek is playing here, it`s hard to belive that Poland will not win this. The Italians will have a difficult task tomorrow: to win 1 match in singles and reach the decisive doubles. Paolini has little chance in the Swiatek match, so a lot will depend on the match of the second players: Cocciaretto-Linette?

Manuela was good but her brother was better.

It won't work with Vinatzer and Sala and there are no others. Remember Manfred Moelgg?