Carla Suárez's Spain now training in Ostrava: "The court is quite playable"

Nearly two months after announcing her agreement to serve as the new captain of the Billie Jean King Cup, we are finally counting down the hours for Carla Suárez to put theory into practice. Her debut will be this weekend, from April 10th to 12th, in a group stage where Spain will need to tie up all loose ends for this story to have a happy ending. Czech Republic and Brazil will be our group companions, with only one country securing that ticket to the November Final Phase. After arriving at the tournament and training this Monday, the RFET has shared with us their first impressions of the place where we will be giving our all.

"As it is the first day, we are paying a little attention to how the balls are, how the court is, if it bounces a lot or not, if it's more slippery than usual, and so on. From what I've seen, I think the girls have adapted well, they seemed comfortable. That is positive for the days ahead," stated the new captain, accompanied on this past day by Jessica Bouzas, Yvonne Cavallé, and Guiomar Maristany, the latter stepping in last minute after the withdrawal of Nuria Párrizas.

Paula Badosa will also not be there, but we already knew this from the beginning. Nevertheless, Carla Suárez can be happy to have assembled the best available team, although the first challenge is now adapting to the conditions. "The court in the Czech Republic is usually quite fast, but that's not the case," the Canary Islands native acknowledges. "We have found a fairly playable court, the ball reacts well to spin. I believe that, in that sense, we will not have excessive problems, as when you are faced with a fast court, it complicates things a bit. I think with the remaining days, we will adapt better."

WAITING FOR THE CHAMPIONSHIP PAIR

From this Tuesday onwards, the team will be completed by the trending pair: Sara Sorribes and Cristina Bucsa. We are talking about the third and fourth best Spanish individual rankings, but the real magic happens when they join forces. After winning the Mutua Madrid Open and claiming bronze at the Paris 2024 Olympics, their latest success came a few days ago in Bogotá, where they were the doubles champions. A chemistry that is hard to explain and will play a fundamental role in the Spanish team's aspirations.

"The objective in these previous days is to try to get the girls to feel everything, the ball, the court, the lights, the signs, because sometimes things indoors can influence. Above all, I aim for them to do intense work and pick up those feelings for the competition, so that they can then be as comfortable and secure as possible," added a nervous Carla Suárez before her debut. "These feelings are different because, obviously, it is a completely different role. Before, as a player, I perhaps only had to think about myself and now I have five players and an entire staff under my charge, but things are going smoothly," concluded the former World No. 6.

This is an automatic translation. You can read the original news, La España de Carla Suárez ya entrena en Ostrava: “La pista es bastante jugable"