TENNIS in DEPTH.

Yanina Wickmayer was presented with her Fed Cup Heart Award at the recent $100k event in Torhout, Belgium. Wickmayer won the Heart Award for her efforts in the World Group play-offs in April, when she was instrumental in Belgium’s 3-2 win over Estonia. The victory secured Belgium a place in Fed Cup’s top tier for the first time since 2007, and Sabine Appelmans’s team will now enter next year’s competition as one of the favourites.

“As an athlete it gives me great satisfaction to play for my country,” said Wickmayer. “I find it a great honour to receive this award chosen from an international jury.” Wickmayer has been the driving force behind Belgium’s surge back to the World Group, as Clijsters and Henin were both making their first Fed Cup appearances since 2006. “I’d like to congratulate Yanina after her outstanding performance in April helped Belgium gain promotion back to the World Group,” said ITF President Francesco Ricci Bitti. “Yanina hasn’t missed a Fed Cup tie since making her debut in 2007, which demonstrates a strong commitment to both her team and the competition as a whole.”

Wickmayer, who was up against Daniela Hantuchova, Samantha Stosur and Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez, was decided the winner by a public vote held on the official Fed Cup website.

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