MONTREAL - A recharged Eugenie Bouchard, fresh off her stunning run to the Australian Opens final four, says shes ready to lead the Canadian team against Serbia at this weekends Federation Cup. Mario Williams Authentic Jersey . Bouchard, who grabbed the tennis worlds attention at last months Grand Slam, will be joined in the best-of-five series by Gabriela Dabrowski of Ottawa, Sharon Fichman of Toronto and Aleksandra Wozniak, of Blainville, Que. The 19-year-old rising tennis star said Wednesday she took time off after the Australian Open, and only worked a little bit on her serve and a few technical issues. "I was definitely physically and mentally tired," Bouchard told a news conference at Montreals Claude-Robillard Sports Complex, the site of Saturday and Sundays indoor World Group II first-round series womens tie. "Im happy with what I did, but never satisfied. I wanted to do better. At the end of the day I lost in the semifinals, so ... I hit the practice court and Im going to continue to work hard on court to try and do better." Bouchard, whose success in Melbourne moved her up to No. 19 in the world rankings, made her Fed Cup debut in 2011 and has a record of 7-2. Last year in Kyiv, Bouchard battled an injured ankle and won two matches, including the decisive doubles match alongside Fichman. That victory gave Canada a place in World Group II for the first time since 2010. Dabrowski, the countrys top-ranked female doubles player at No. 61 in the WTA computer, reached her first two WTA doubles finals in 2013 at Brussels and Linz in addition to winning two doubles titles of the ITF Challenger Circuit. The 26-year-old is 3-0 in Fed Cup play. The 23-year-old Fichman has a 22-7 career record at the Fed Cup, while Wozniak, 26, is 37-9. The Canadians will square off this weekend with a young, less-experienced Serbian team that will be missing two of its top players: Jelena Jankovic and Ana Ivanovic, a former world No. 1. Bouchard, who upset Ivanovic in the quarterfinal at the Australian Open, said Wednesday her team would have liked to meet them in the Fed Cup. "I think were all disappointed not to have the two best, Ivanovic and Jankovic, here," said Bouchard. "But now we will take advantage, we will try to do our best and I think we have all the best players in Canada here. They might not have their best, so we will use that to our advantage." Serbian team captain Dejan Vranes said Ivanovic wont play this weekend due to injury and that Jankovic no longer competes in the event. The country will be represented by Nina Stojanovic, 17, Aleksandra Krunic, 20, Jovana Jaksic, 20, and Vesna Dolonc, 24, who at No. 117 is its top-ranked player. Vranes called the Canadians the favourites, particularly since they will be playing in front of a home crowd in a venue that holds some 4,000 fans. "We have a great challenge in front of us, but I believe in our team and I think we have a chance in every match," a confident Vranes told reporters. "Well be ready to fight." The Canadian women, however, are aiming to continue Canadas recent stretch of strong tennis performances. On the mens side, Milos Raonic climbed into the top 10 in the world last year, while Vasek Pospisil also rose in the rankings. Both reached the Rogers Cup semifinals in Montreal last summer and led the Davis Cup team to a first-ever semifinal appearance. Wozniak said she hopes the women can also deliver their own record-breaking finish. "Were looking forward to the challenge, and what the men did, its made history in Canada," Wozniak said. "So, I think for me, and for the team, its important. We would love to make a new history for Canada and win this tie." For Bouchard, who grew up in the Montreal Island community of Westmount, theres the bonus of playing a match in her hometown for the first time in a year and a half. "Its always fun to play in Montreal," said Bouchard, who was asked whether more people seem to recognize her in the city since the Australian Open. "Yeah, for sure, there are people who say, Good luck and that they are proud of me. Its special. Im happy to get compliments like that." Brandon Spikes Womens Jersey . -- Jacksonville Jaguars rookie receiver Marqise Lee has agreed to terms on a four-year contract worth more than $5 million.C.J. Spiller Youth Jersey . In the eyes of Heat coach Erik Spoelstra, the two-time defending NBA champions pretty much botched the whole thing.SALT LAKE CITY -- Sarah Burke was an X Games star with a grass-roots mentality -- a daredevil superpipe skier who understood the risks inherent to her sport and the debt she owed to it. The pioneering Canadian freestyler, who helped get superpipe accepted into the Olympics, died Thursday after a Jan. 10 crash during a training run in Park City, Utah. Burke was 29. Tests revealed she sustained "irreversible damage to her brain due to lack of oxygen and blood after cardiac arrest," according to a statement released by her publicist, Nicole Wool, on behalf of the family. "Our hearts go out to Sarahs husband Rory and her entire family, Canadian Freestyle Ski Association CEO Peter Judge said in a statement. "Its difficult for us to imagine their pain and what theyre going through. Sarah was certainly someone who lived life to the fullest and in doing so was a significant example to our community and far beyond. "She will be greatly missed by all of us at the CFSA and the entire ski community." Wool said Burkes organs and tissues were donated, as she had requested before the accident. "The family expresses their heartfelt gratitude for the international outpouring of support they have received from all the people Sarah touched," the statement said. A four-time Winter X Games champion, Burke will be remembered as much for the hardware she collected as the legacy she left for women in superpipe skiing, a sister sport to the more popular snowboarding brand that has turned Shaun White, Hannah Teter and others into stars. Aware of the big role the Olympics played in pushing the Whites of the world from the fringes into the mainstream, Burke lobbied to add superpipe skiing to the Winter Games program, noting that no new infrastructure would be needed. Her arguments won over Olympic officials and the discipline will debut at the Sochi Games in 2014, where Burke likely would have been a favourite for the gold medal. "Sarah, in many ways, defines the sport," Judge said before her death. "Shes been involved since the very, very early days as one of the first people to bring skis into the pipe. Shes also been very dedicated in trying to define her sport but not define herself by winning. For her, its been about making herself the best she can be rather than comparing herself to other people." She was, Judge said, as committed to the grassroots of the sport -- giving clinics to youngsters and working with up-and-coming competitors -- as performing at the top levels. "She was a great, positive person for the whole team, the whole sport," said David Mirota, the Canadian teams high performance director. "She enlightens the room, and shes great." News of Burkes death spread quickly through the action-sports world, where the Winter X Games are set to start next week in Aspen, Colo., without one of their biggest and most-beloved stars. "Shes probably one of the nicest people Ive known in my life, and thats about the only thing I have to say about it," said American superpipe skier Simon Dumont, a multiple X Games medallist . Jeremy Forster, the program director for U.S. Freeskiing and U.S. Snowboarding, said freeskiers would remember Burke "first, as a friend, and then as a competitor who constantly inspired them to do greater things." "She was a leader in her sport, and its a huge loss for the freeskiing community," Forster said. "Shocked and saddened," former freestyle Olympian Jeremy Bloom said on Twitter. &quuot;Sarah was a true champion in everything that she did. C.J. Spiller Womens Jersey. " Burkes death is also sure to re-ignite the debate over safety on the halfpipe. She crashed on the same halfpipe where snowboarder Kevin Pearce sustained a traumatic brain injury during a training accident on Dec. 31, 2009. Pearces injury -- he has since recovered and is back to riding on snow -- was a jarring reminder of the dangers posed to these athletes who often market themselves as devil-may-care thrillseekers but know they make their living in a far more serious, and dangerous, profession. The sports leaders defend the record, saying mandatory helmets and air bags used on the sides of pipes during practice and better pipe-building technology has made this a safer sport, even though the walls of the pipes have risen significantly over the past decade. They now stand about seven metres high. Some of the movement to the halfpipe decades ago came because racing down the mountain, the way they do in snowboardcross and skicross, was considered even more dangerous -- the conditions more unpredictable and the athletes less concerned with each others safety. But there are few consistent, hard-and-fast guidelines when it comes to limiting the difficulty of the tricks in the halfpipe, and as the money and fame available in the sport grew, so did the tricks. In 2010, snowboarding pioneer Jake Burton told The Associated Press that much of this was self-policed by athletes who knew where to draw the line. "If the sport got to the point where halfpipe riding became really dangerous, I think riders would do something about it," Burton said. "It wouldnt be cool anymore." His opinion is shared by many. "There are inherent risks in everything," Judge said. "Certainly, freestyle skiing has one of the greatest safety records of almost any sport. Freestyle is a very safe sport in large part because we had to build a safe sport in order to get into the Olympics." In 2009, Burke broke a vertebra in her back after landing awkwardly while competing in slopestyle at the X Games. It was her lobbying that helped get the X Games to include womens slopestyle -- where riders shoot down the mountain and over "features" including bumps and rails. It wasnt her best event, but she felt compelled to compete because she pushed for it. She came to terms with her injury quickly. "Ive been doing this for long time, 11 years," she said in a 2010 interview. "Ive been very lucky with the injuries Ive had. Its part of the game. Everybody gets hurt. Looking back on it, Id probably do the exact same thing again." She returned a year after that injury and kept going at the highest level, trying the toughest tricks and winning the biggest prizes. A native of Barrie, Ont., who grew up in nearby Midland before moving to Squamish, B.C., Burke won the ESPY in 2007 as female action sports athlete of the year. In her interview with The Associated Press two years ago, Burke reflected on the niche shed carved out in the action-sports world. "I think were all doing this, first off, because we love it and want to be the best," she said. "But I also think it wouldve been a great opportunity, huge for myself and for skiing and for everyone, if we couldve gotten into the (Vancouver) Olympics. Its sad. I mean, Im super lucky to be where I am, but that wouldve been pretty awesome." A little more than a year later, with Burkes prodding, her sport was voted in for the next Winter Games. wholesale nfl jerseys ' ' '
