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Venus Williams, Rajeev Ram, and James Blake are among the names that have been put forward by some tennis experts after the emergence of reports of Mardy Fish giving up the captaincy of the United States Davis Cup team.
Fish, who replaced Jim Courier as the captain of the team in 2019, received a lot of criticism recently for not picking Ram for the 2022 Davis Cup knockout stages. Team USA was eliminated by Italy in the quarterfinals last month. Ram is the current World No. 3 in doubles and holds an impressive report card for the season with the US Open, ATP Finals, and two Masters titles.
Although not yet confirmed, documentary filmmaker Craig Shapiro broke the news on social media and stated that Fish could be on his way out.
"Sources telling me Mardy Fish is out as captain of Davis Cup Team. I guess you can’t have Jack Sock pick your team and have the world 1 sitting watching at home," Shapiro tweeted.
After winning the ATP Finals alongside Joe Salisbury in November, Ram expressed his anger at being left out, especially after he helped the team reach the quarterfinals. Fish defended his decision, saying that Ram wouldn't have been able to make a difference since the Italians played exceptionally well.
An ardent tennis fan suggested former player James Blake's name for the captaincy role in the future. The tweet attracted a reply from journalist Jon Wertheim, who mentioned more names like Ram, Chanda Rubin, and John Lucas.
"I know he's a busy guy, but I'd truly love to see James Blake give it a shot," the fan wrote.
"What if the @usta — in a total rebrand; totally out of hidebound character — went waaaay off the board here? John Lucas? Dirk Nowitzki? Rajeev as player/captain? Chanda Rubin? Let it rip...otherwise, yes, James or the Bryans will be unimpeachable choices," Wertheim tweeted.
It was journalist Ben Rothenberg who tossed seven-time Grand Slam champion Venus Williams' name for the job, though the 42-year-old is still an active player.
"If the job is open, Venus Williams seems like a very tough pick to beat," Rothenberg wrote.
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Venus Williams returned to action at Wimbledon to play doubles alongside Jamie Murray. While the pair reached the second round, Williams has faced first-round exits in all four singles tournaments she has participated in, including the US Open.
She is set to take on the 2022 Australian Open runner-up Danielle Collins in an exhibition match at the inaugural Women's Tennis Classic at the Dallas Open, to be played on February 4, 2023. The older Williams sister has regularly shared videos of herself practicing after ending her season at Flushing Meadows.
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