By Charles Bricker

I'm not going to spend the next three hours belaboring Serena Williams' latest duck out of a Fed Cup tie because I frankly don't care that deeply about Fed Cup, which is poorly organized by the ITF and even more poorly publicized. If she doesn't want to play, fine. That's her call.

However. . .

Let's air out a few things about the Williams sisters' contrived interest in playing for their country, with their well orchestrated declarations of how "thrilled" and "excited" they are about playing for the team.

When the U.S. plays Italy in the Fed Cup final this weekend (repeat FINAL), it will mark the 23rd tie since the sisters first played Fed Cup, coincidentally against Italy, in July of 1999. That's 23 ties over the years and Serena Williams has participated in four. Venus, who earlier last week indicated she wouldn't play this final, began her (ahem) Fed Cup career at the same tie in 1999. She's appeared in seven of the 23.

Yes, I know they've had injuries and I'm not going to take the next couple of days researching every bump and bruise they've had, not knowing how serious or trivial they were. But they haven't missed this many U.S. ties because of injury. They've missed them because they didn't want to play. Again, fine. Their call. But don't give us this rubbish about how much it means to you to be on the team.

One digression, all right, about Andy Roddick, and how much he lives for Davis Cup, which is the men's equivalent event. Andy played his first Cup tie in February of 2001 and has since appeared in 23 of the 25 ties played by the U.S. He sat out two because of injury, and there is no doubt about his being hurt.

Playing Davis Cup or Fed Cup is not financially rewarding and, though I'd have to call the USTA when the office reopens tomorrow to find out how much the U.S. Fed Cup team is being paid, you know it's nowhere near the $1.55 million Serena collected for winning the Sony Ericsson WTA Championships today with a straight-set win over Venus.

She played with a wrap on her left thigh, so, like just about every top professional of either gender who has now gone through 10 months of tournaments, she has an injury issue. Obviously, it's not severe enough to keep her from winning the WTA's biggest event of the year.

Plus, when she talked Saturday about copping out of Fed Cup (after agreeing to play four days earlier), she never mentioned injuries. She said: "I think I'm just going to be wiped out by the end of this. I'm literally just giving everything I have." And blah, blah, blah.

Let me suggest to you how Roddick would handle fatigue issues if he were in a similar place. "I think I'm just going to be wiped out by the end of this, but we've got the Davis Cup final next weekend and nothing short of a natural disaster is going to keep me out of this. I love Davis Cup. I love playing for the United States."

The sisters haven't played Fed Cup since 2007 -- Serena in the quarters vs. Belgium and Venus in the semis in a loss to Russia. Serena is 4-0 in singles, Venus 14-2. But you don't need their won/loss records to know how valuable they would be to the team. The first year they played, they helped the U.S. win the Cup, beating Russia 4-1 in the final. The sisters played the semis and the championship tie. Since then, obviously, they've played very little.

If you're among the few paying attention to Fed Cup, you know neither of the sisters has played in the first two rounds of 2009. Then, after the U.S. reached the championship with Bethanie Mattek-Sands, Alexa Glatch, Melanie Oudin, Jill Craybas and the No. 1 doubles player in the world, Liezel Huber, Serena and Venus announced: "We're available for the final."

As good as the sisters are, Captain Mary Joe Fernandez should have told them, "Thanks for the offer. But we reached the finals with these players and, even if we're underdogs, I think they deserve the right to play the final."

By the way, if you ever get a chance to talk with Liezel Huber, who became a naturalized citizen from South Africa three years ago, ask her what it means to play Fed Cup for the United States. You'll soon know she's the female Cup version of Andy Roddick. This final means a great deal to her. It certainly doesn't mean much to the Williams sisters.

Charles Bricker can be reached at bricker@tennisnews.com