BILLIE JEAN KING CUP

November 10, 2022

Johan Van Herck

Team Belgium

Emirates Arena

Press Conference

SANDERS-STOSUR/Flipkens-Bonaventure

6-4, 6-3

Team Australia - 3

Team Belgium - 0

THE MODERATOR: First your balance of Belgium. Sometimes you need in these kind of competitions a little bit of luck. It doesn't look like you had it, and probably not even last year, as well.

CAPTAIN van HERCK: No, it's tough to lose twice. We came here with a goal to go to the semis. I still think and the team thinks also it was possible. We didn't make it.

We're not good enough, point. Yeah, couldn't say it once, we were not helped by the situation. I think what happened with Elise, what she had to undergo today was just, I don't know the right words in English, but I don't think it's very correct. Yeah, it had a huge impact on what we had to go through here, especially Elise now with an injury.

So it's something where I think we, as a small country, have to pay a price for not being the Czech Republic that starts today or the U.S. that can play in the evening or whatever. So it's just...

But I don't want to use that as an excuse. I just want to mention it, because I think it's just not fair to us as a country that we always try to do our very best to play, Davis Cup and Fed Cup, with our best teams. I think it's just not very correct. That's all I wanted to say about that.

THE MODERATOR: How positive are you looking in the future that this is the right level for Belgium?

CAPTAIN van HERCK: I think we have four players in the top, five players in the top 100, four in the top 100. Kirsten is No. 30. We have Greet Minnen who was top 100. Due to injury has fallen back a little bit. We have Yanina who is coming back after being a mother. We have another girl, Magali Kempen, coming up too being 220.

I think we have every title, every right to be here. Okay, just I think we need to find and to analyze what happened here and see what we can do better, because at the end of the day, I think we cannot, I cannot be negative about the girls. They really tried everything, but we didn't manage to get them at the best level.

That's something we have to work with them like we did last year in Prague. I think we were better already this year, but not good enough to win ties. We are here, I think I'm a winner, I think the players are winners, the Federation is a winner, and we want to win. So I don't say we want to win the whole thing but at least get some results in, and we have to analyze what we can do better in the future.

THE MODERATOR: I don't know if it's too early or your head is already prepared for qualifiers for next year waiting for the draw on Sunday.

CAPTAIN van HERCK: We are obviously waiting for the draw, but let's, yeah, at the moment I think it's still a disappointment of how it went here for the reasons I thought, and for the moment we just I think trying to digest what happened and see how we will do next year.