MOSCOW -- Venus and Serena stayed away. Jennifer Capriati fought with the captain and doesn't play Fed Cup anymore. Even the world's No. 1 player Justine Henin-Hardenne and No. 2 Kim Clijsters sent their regrets.

	"It's great to be part of a team," Martina Navratilova said about playing in Fed Cup.

But Martina Navratilova, at age 47 old enough to be a parent to any of the above, is one player still moved by the notion of playing for your country, most likely an outgrowth of her choosing to become a naturalized American back in her early days on the pro tour.

Clearly, the Fed Cup, a 40-year-old international team competition for women, is being considered a burden not worth undertaking for some of today's most prominent players. In fact, while many players shook their heads "no" to the Fed Cup cause, Navratilova actually campaigned for her doubles berth to represent the United States in the semifinals, and now the finals, this week in Moscow. It was only a couple of months ago that Navratilova, with Svetlana Kuznetsova, reached the doubles final at the U.S. Open where she stopped U.S. Fed Cup captain Billie Jean King.

"Billie, I just want you to know that I'm making myself available for the Fed Cup team," Navratilova recalled.

Not really expecting to hear back from King, Navratilova, who teamed with Leander Paes to win the mixed doubles titles at the Australian Open and Wimbledon this year, was delighted to find one day amongst her e-mails an invitation to join the team. So Navratilova has taken her place alongside Lisa Raymond, 30, Meghann Shaughnessy, 24, and Alexandra Stevenson, 22, to attempt to bring the Fed Cup home to the United States for a record 18th time.

Why? If you asked Navratilova what is the most consistent question she gets about her desire to play Fed Cup it would all be wrapped up in that one three-letter word. That query makes little to no sense to her as she ponders the situation differently, with a "why not?"

	“	I'm nationalistic and patriotic enough to take two weeks out of my schedule and go to Moscow, which is not one of my favorite places in the world to go. What, with all the Lenin statutes and the sickle and hammer, neon signs that are still on the buildings, that does not bring good memories. ”
		— Martina Navratilova

"It's not about wanting to play Fed Cup, it's about making myself available and being good enough to make the team," said Navratilova, following her 6-1, 6-4 victory with Raymond over Elke Clijsters and Caroline Maes to finish off the semifinal round with a 4-1 victory against a starless Belgian team on Thursday. "You don't not play Fed Cup.

"I love the team concept. It's great to be part of a team since all I have to do is show up and hit tennis balls. Everything else is done for you -- it's so much easier than being on the tour. I'm real jealous of the team sports because they have everything done for them -- all they have to do is show up and do their stuff. It's a piece of cake."

It hasn't always been that way, as she has been reminded this week. Coming to Moscow, the former bastion of communism has not been an easy trip for Navratilova considering she still hasn't totally shaken off the recollections of being born and raised within the Eastern European bloc.

"I'm nationalistic and patriotic enough to take two weeks out of my schedule and go to Moscow, which is not one of my favorite places in the world to go," Navratilova said. "What, with all the Lenin statutes and the sickle and hammer, neon signs that are still on the buildings, that does not bring good memories."

Always outspoken, Navratilova has never shied away from an opinion, probably a major reason why, after seeing what freedom could offer, she made the difficult decision to leave family and friends to seek asylum in the United States.

Navratilova, who started her Fed Cup career representing Czechoslovakia back in the 1970s, increased her success since playing as an American to an unspoiled 29-0 with the victory Thursday afternoon at the Olympic stadium in Moscow. Her record is similarly spotless at 9-0 when she represented her native homeland before attaining U.S. citizenship.

For Navratilova, the privilege of playing Fed Cup goes beyond any of the circumstances surrounding her actual involvement in the tie. For instance, the fact that the U.S. team had already moved into the final with an insurmountable 3-1 lead before Raymond and Navratilova took to the court was nothing more than an incidental. The fact that of the 18 doubles matches she's played during her career in Fed Cup, 16 of them were contested after the tie had already been decided in favor of one country was of little to no consequence.

"I don't mind if I'm playing a dead rubber," said Navratilova, clearly finding the idea that any Fed Cup match is of little importance absurd. "If we're losing it's a bummer, but if we're winning, you're still playing for your country and you don't want to lose. You never go on court and think it doesn't matter."

Along with adopting America, she has totally adopted the concept of democracy to become a zealot of liberal ideals and causes. Taking that into account, it is not surprising that she's recently dropped hints that a political career could be the next step after tennis retirement, which she says will come after next season when she hopes to represent her country again this time at the Olympics. Nowadays, however, she's hedging a bit on the prospect that she could become the liberal celebrity answer to body-builder/actor Arnold Schwarzenegger, who recently became the Republican governor of California.

"That's been pretty much blown out of proportion," Navratilova said. "Of course, who wouldn't be interested in politics with the way things are going now. If you're interested in what's going on in our country and you don't agree with it, then you want to get involved. And I don't agree with a lot of things that are going on. I love my country, but I don't like the current administration. I don't like where they're taking us in our country as well as around the world. You have to get involved if you want make a difference, so one day I will do something. Right now, I'm just playing tennis but if one day I do get involved in politics, it would first be in tennis politics because that's what I know most about."

But before there can be concerns of politics, there's a Fed Cup final against France to contemplate this weekend. And that calls for Navratilova to stick close to her role of being just one of the team.

"Everything is great. Everybody has been playing in the same direction so it's been positive," Navratilova said. "Everybody is putting out 100 percent in practices and the matches. I don't feel a generation gap -- you'd have to ask them -- but I don't feel it. I'm just one of the players. I just bring more experience to the table. I've been around so the girls know me -- I've been hanging in the locker room for four years now, maybe if I wasn't around it would be different."