One Royal Navy captain after another would champion his new command's inaugural performance at sea trials, or praise the yard to the hilt when a vessel returned to the port of its birth.
In the absence of world No.2 Sharapova and 10th-ranked Zvonareva, Russian captain Shamil Tarpishchev has turned to two-time grand slam champion Svetlana Kuznetsova, as well as Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, Maria Kirilenko and Elena Vesnina.