Fiji at the 2000 Federation Cup

Fiji at the 2000 Federation Cup participated and played for the cup the second time as they marked their entry in the year 1999. The Fiji fed Cup matters are handled by the Fiji Tennis Association. Till 2000, Fiji has been a small nation in the Fed Cup league and not managed to make a mark for itself in the arena of Fed Cup tennis. Fiji has never been able to rise above the Group II level in the Asia/Oceania Zone. Archana Reddy, Hamidan Bibi and Walena White have remained to be the renowned members of the Fijian team.

Fiji at the 2000 Federation Cup was a low graded Group II ‘A’ team of the Asia/Oceania Zone and played its first Round Robin against Malaysia. Just like their defeat against the same team in 1999, Fiji again lost with a wash-out score of 0-3. While playing against Pacific Oceania, Fiji against performed in an appalling manner and lost with a score of 0-2. The unsuccessful run continued as Fiji failed to overpower even Uzbekistan and lost with a pitiable score of 0-3. It was only in the fourth Round Robin game that Fiji managed to vanquish Iraq with a score of 3-0 and registered their first win in the 2000 Fed Cup. The shimmer was short-lived as this was the end of Round Robin matches for the year and Fiji could not do much and hence has to remain at the very same position even in 2001.

The show put up by Fiji at the 2000 Federation Cup was not of international tennis stature. If Fiji aspired to last and progress in the Fed Cup, it required a lot more effort and commitment as it was conspicuous that they had not given in their 100% during the matches. The sole victory and the many losses were clear-cut matches and Fiji could not even get close to winning. Hence taking a holistic view of the performance, Fiji’s portrayal of tennis gaming skills was extremely disheartening throughout the championship.