Casey Dellacqua believes she is close to returning to her best tennis ahead of this weekend’s crunch Fed Cup tie against the USA.
Dellacqua has spent the past two months regaining full fitness after a five month lay off due to concussion and will again partner Sam Stosur in the doubles, as Australia tries to regain its place in the World Group.
“It’s been a hard few months getting back on track, but I’m slowly getting there and definitely on my way back,” the world number 6 told SEN.
The experienced Australian pair know each other’s game well, having played together numerous times throughout their careers.
Back in February in her first real hit-out since her forced layoff, Dellacqua paired with Stosur to clinch Australia’s Fed Cup tie against Slovakia.
Since then, the duo has fine tuned their game on the WTA tour, playing four tournaments together.
“I take confidence in knowing I’ve got Sam beside me,” Dellacqua said.
“We’ve practiced and played together and we know we can take great confidence if it does come down to the doubles.”
The duo will face strong opposition in world number 3 Bethanie Mattek-Sands and partner Coco Vandeweghe.
Australia is likely to start newcomer Daria Gavrilova and Stosur in the singles, before Stosur and Dellacqua team up in the doubles.
The making of the perfect @FedCup selfie. #Stosur, #Dellacqua, #Gavrilova, #Rodionova and #Molik strike a pose. pic.twitter.com/1lLRLFN9hF
— TennisAustralia (@TennisAustralia) April 14, 2016
For the winning team, a place in the eight-nation World Group for 2017 beckons, with the losing nation to drop down to World Group II next year.
All the action is live on Channel 7 across the weekend.