[I♥PsY@Mus!c]

Thanks Tytta.

[Tytta!.]

I don't know where to post this but the new DC's Captain is Fernando Meligeni - They just found it out and it'll be official in about one hour

[Lee]

Thanks for the news. Meligeni is a great guy and I believe the players will work well with him. And I'm glad that Larri can concentrate on Guga's training.

[Billabong]

Meligeni great personality he was one of Guga's best friends on the tour!

[Tytta!.]

I just love Fernando so I'm sure the team is in great hands

[sol]

Good luck, Fernando!

http://www.gotennis.com/news/headlin...eadlineID=5886

Meligeni handed task of reviving Brazil's Cup fortunes
2005-02-18 00:13:42 GMT (Reuters)


RIO DE JANEIRO, Feb 17 (Reuters) - Brazil named Fernando Meligeni as their Davis Cup team captain on Thursday, two weeks ahead of their American zone Group Two tie with Colombia.

A Cup stalwart who represented his country for the best part of a decade, Meligeni was offered the job after Gustavo Kuerten's coach Larri Passos turned it down.

Brazil plummeted to what is effectively the competition's third division following a players' boycott last year and Meligeni will be hoping to lift the team's fortunes in the Bogota tie from March 4-6.

"Meligeni always wore the Brazil shirt with great determination and competence and I have no doubt he is capable of facing this challenge," said Jorge Lacerda da Rosa, who took over as Brazilian Tennis Confederation (CBT) president at the start of the year.

Meligeni added: "This is a difficult moment and it's very important for Brazilian tennis, it's time to regain the credibility of the sport."

Brazil was relegated to Group Two after losing ties to Paraguay, Venezuela and Peru.

The defeats came as the top players, led by former world number one Kuerten, refused to play in protest at the administration of then president Nelson Nastas.

Nastas was in charge for ten years until he decided not to stand for re-election in December.

The players have now ended their boycott although Kuerten remains unavailable because of injury.

Passos said he rejected the job because he wanted something more wide-ranging.

"My idea was always to help make tennis grow in Brazil," he said.

"I wasn't interested in being just captain for the Davis Cup. I like long term projects with targets and results which make a mark."

http://slam.canoe.ca/Slam/Tennis/Dav...934213-ap.html

Meligeni named Brazil's Davis Cup captain

SAO PAULO, Brazil (AP) - Fernando Meligeni was named captain of Brazil's Davis Cup team Thursday by the Brazilian Tennis Confederation.

Meligeni, a 10-year Davis Cup veteran as a player, will lead Brazil against Colombia in a Group 2 matchup March 4-6 in Bogota, Columbia. "I'm glad people recognized my dedication to this country in the Davis Cup," said the 33-year-old Meligeni, who in 1999 was ranked 25th in the world and was a French Open semifinalist.

Meligeni, a gold medallist at the 2003 Pan American Games, is expected to pick Brazil's roster Monday.

"Meligeni always gave everything he had during the Davis Cup, I have no doubt he's up to this challenge," Brazilian Tennis Confederation President Jorge Lacerda Rosa said in a statement.

Brazil was relegated to Group 2 after losses to Paraguay, Venezuela and Peru last year. Most of the matches were played with second-stringers because of a boycott by the country's top players.

Three-time French Open champion Gustavo Kuerten, Andre Sa, Flavio Saretta and Ricardo Mello didn't play in protest against then-Brazilian federation president Nelson Nastas.

[Cris]

Excellent! Meligeni
Boa Sorte!

[Lee]

Hopefully, with captaincy solidified, the players are more willing to commit. Last time a read an article (of course with terrible online translation) that on Sá is commited while Saretta and Mello are not sure.

[sol]

Originally Posted by Lee

Hopefully, with captaincy solidified, the players are more willing to commit. Last time a read an article (of course with terrible online translation) that on Sá is commited while Saretta and Mello are not sure.

Good point!

I can't rep you at the moment.

Alejandro Falla is a dangerous player in the Columbian team.


http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default...-2-2005_pg10_5

Meligeni to captain Brazil against Colombia

RIO DE JANEIRO: Retired Brazilian tennis player Fernando Meligeni will captain his country in their Davis Cup Group II first round American zone tie against Colombia in Bogota from March 4-6. Former French Open semi-finalist Meligeni, 33, accepted the post after it was turned down by Larri Passos, coach of Gustavo Kuerten. It will be the first meeting in 20 years between the two South American sides, with Brazil having won all their previous four encounters. Brazil were relegated from Group I of the Davis Cup for the first time last season afer falling 4-1 to Peru. The team have been decimated by infighting with top players, including three-time French Open winner Kuerten, refusing to play after demanding the departure of Brazilian Tennis Federation president Nelson Nastas. afp

Quote from Tennis-x.com:

Brazil named Fernando Meligeni as their Davis Cup team captain on Thursday, ending the boycott of the competition by Gustavo Kuerten and Brazil's top players. "This is a difficult moment and it's very important for Brazilian tennis, it's time to regain the credibility of the sport," Meligeni said.

[smucav]

http://www.atptennis.com/en/newsands...ga_returns.asp

Audio: Gustavo Kuerten (English) Brasil Open - Costa Do Sauipe February 18

Audio: Gustavo Kuerten (Espanol) Brasil Open - Costa Do Sauipe February 18

Player News
February 18, 2005
Gustavo Kuerten Announces Return to ATP Circuit

Costa do Sauipe, Brazil - Gustavo "Guga" Kuerten announced today his return to competition on the ATP circuit. The three-time Roland Garros champion and year-end World No. 1 in 2000 will compete at the Open de Tenis Comunidad in Valencia, Spain.

Guga is nearly recuperated from the arthroscopy operation on his right hip that took place September 21 in the United States. Kuerten is already practicing and in addition to Valencia he will play on the clay of the ATP Masters Series events in Monte Carlo, Rome and Hamburg as well as Roland Garros.

About his return to the ATP circuit, Guga said, "The first 2 events will serve to see how my game is at all levels. Then I will have two more weeks to prepare myself a bit more, with a different goal, to arrive well to Roland Garros and progress at the previous events."

About his goals: "I have no idea. I have been away from the courts for a long time. After 15 years this has been the first time I spent summer at home in Florianopolis. Since I was 13 I had not been playing tennis for so long. This month will be very important to have a definitive answer about my tennis, my game a to see the truth in front of me. Right now it is like shooting no where, I have no idea how I am. I have one month to well prepare myself. I returned to the courts hitting balls last week. I have no measurement right now."

"This year is going to be very important. I am with a lot of good hope. It is very positive the way things are going in my rehabilitation. I am not having negative surprises and that is a relief for me. I am going step by step on my recuperation, thinking that everything will go fine and thinking long term on my career. My biggest ambition will be to find myself free from my injury. This is my biggest goal, further than the tournaments, the wins and all that. With that happening, naturally, I can return and feel better. I am leaving the ranking aside, the tournaments in favour of my total recuperation. I fight for this goal at the moment."

About how his current rehabilitation versus those prior: "This surgery was more delicate. A longer process in which I had to be more patient. I was on crutches, with out stepping with my right foot for over a month. The worst is over. Now is better. I am back on the tennis court, it feels great, and focusing more on the technical part. I am almost through with the recuperation and more into the evolution."

Guga's schedule:
Week of April 4 - Open de Tenis Comunidad Valencia
Week of April 11 - ATP Masters Series Monte Carlo
Week of May 2 - ATP Masters Series event in Rome
Week of May 9 - ATP Masters Series Hamburg
Week of May 26 - Roland Garros

[Tytta!.]

Originally Posted by Lee

Hopefully, with captaincy solidified, the players are more willing to commit. Last time a read an article (of course with terrible online translation) that on Sá is commited while Saretta and Mello are not sure.

Sá, Saretta and Mello said they will play

[Billabong]

Maybe Guga will ask a WC to Barcelona, no? It's always a great tournament!

[blosson]

I can't wait until April.

[Wojtek]

Go Guga

[brazuca5copas]

http://www2.uol.com.br/tenisbrasil/d...t138u23123.htm
Andres Gomez "Guga can win Roland Garros"
27/04/2005 às 15h49
According to Ecuadorian Andres Gomes, fomer champion Roland Garros 1990, Gustavo Kuerten has conditions to win the French Grand Slam again, even after to pass for the second surgery in the hip.
The Ecuadorian affirmed that "only to come back to play after the surgeries and wanting great results, he already got a great success". For Gomez, "the positioning in ranking serves more to the press that to the tennis players". According Gomez, the individual conscience of each player only can evaluate the successes and failures harvested to the long one of the career.