Maria Sharapova, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Richard Gasquet - is injury an excuse to shirk Fed and Davis Cup duty?

Players who actually get the opportunity to compete in Fed Cup and Davis Cup will admit there is an indescribable feeling playing for their country.

Outside of Grand Slams and certain tier-one events, these two competitions are perhaps the most important. But from time to time these they don’t attract the key players from each country. Is there anything that can be done?

One of the first aspects some spectators might consider would be the possibility of giving ranking points to the players who compete and win. The ATP Tour has already mentioned this as an option for the 2009 season.

But it would be unreasonable to award ranking points to the competitors as most of the time the same players are involved. Andy Roddick, James Blake and the Bryan brothers are usually in the US Davis Cup team. So how exactly is that fair to players like Robbie Genepri or Amer Delic?  They don’t determine who plays, the captain does.

Another alternative might be changing the dates.  A great illustration of this can be seen from the WTA Tour calendar. On occasions the first and final round of the Fed Cup takes place the week preceding a Slam. Why would players want to waste extra energy when it could be saved for a more prestigious event?

For the most part there seems to be a recurring theme of injuries as the reasoning behind top players missing these events. In the past, players like Venus Williams, Maria Sharapova and Serena Williams have passed on attending the tournament.  And already this week, Richard Gasquet and Jo-Wilfred Tsonga have chosen to skip Davis Cup as a result of injuries.

Even though it might be great for key players to take part in these events, sometimes there is nothing can be done to change the outcome.