This section of the blog will receive more love next year, but the ‘World Cup of Tennis’ can sometimes prove tricky to track down on telly, thus rendering any write-up even more pointless than the norm.
The Czechs took the Fed Cup title yet again with a fine display of confidence power tennis over a tired looking German side full of players who have had years of extreme highs and lows.
In the end, the proof was very much in the player pudding and the subsequent 2014 form, Kvitova and Safarova have been that much better than Kerber, Petkovic and Lisicki – who themselves have enjoyed great campaigns.
If the favourites triumphed in the Fed Cup, the Davis Cup instead produced some history. For long dominated by the classic tennis nations of USA, Sweden, France and Australia with Spain and Serbia the unsurprising champions of recent years.
But inject a formula of a resurgent Federer and awoken Wawrinka plus more injuries for Nadal and the tiny Swiss team had a chance of a debut victory.
It was one they took with aplomb against a French side rich in talent but low in confidence and seemingly any real belief or energy (the brilliant Monfils aside).
Federer again was the darling of the media and the focus of attention – such was the significance of this rare omission on his CV, but as the world number two was quick to reiterate again an again, it was Wawrinka who shone most brightly in this triumph and who carried the team.
All Things Tennis 