Fed Cup: Czech women still favourites despite Pliskova’s cancellation

Karolina Pliskova will not be able to play in the Czech Republic’s Fed Cup final against USA. This was announced by the former world number one in the social media.

Nevertheless, the chances for Kathy Rinaldi’s guest team are still rather bad: Petr Pala can at least fall back on Petra Kvitova in Prague on November 10 and 11, and with Katerina Siniakova brings the current number one of the WTA double world rankings into the calculation.

The USA, on the other hand, arrives without the Williams sisters, but also without Madison Keys and French Open finalist Sloane Stephens. Instead, Danielle Collins, Allison Riske, Sofia Kenin and Nicole Melichar will repeat last year’s triumph. Knap twelve months ago, Coco Vandeweghe had secured a 3-2 win in Belarus almost single-handedly.

Hope for the USA lies in the common Fed Cup history: Of the twelve games played so far against the Czech Republic or its predecessor, Czechoslovakia, the Americans have won ten, most recently in the 2017 semi-finals with 3:2. At that time, however, the Czech women had travelled to Saddlebrook without Kvitova and Karolina Pliskova.

But since 2011, when the Czech team won the title in Moscow, the Fed Cup has travelled to Prague a total of five times. There is a high probability that this will also be the case in 2018.