Are the Swiss Going Down—Nathan’s Notice

Written by: Staff on 10th February 2012

Are the Swiss Going Down—Nathan’s Notice |

By: Nathan M. Cuny

We were expecting great things from the Swiss at this year’s first round tie of the Davis Cup, especially with Roger Federer’s long awaited return to the Davis Cup. Little was expected of the U.S. team. Both expectations were proved wrong over the last several days beginning with Stanislas Wawrinka’s 6-2, 4-6, 4-6, 6-1, 9-7 loss in the opening rubber to world ranked No. 8 Mardy Fish. The match lasted a total of 4 hours and 26 minutes. Mardy Fish performed spectacularly hitting 34 forehand winners and 15 aces.

On Friday the 10^th of January John Isner followed in Mardy Fish’s footsteps but took down a much bigger opponent. The situation was much like David’s battle with Goliath as the No. 17 ranked John Isner took down No. 3 Roger Federer 4-6, 6-3, 7-6⁴, 6-2. Federer won the first set without dropping serve. His streak was broken in the sixth game of the second set when Isner began doing the impossible. He won the third set in a tie-break and broke Federer twice in the fourth set. Friday’s match was the first ever win out of three meetings against Federer for Isner.

Following the match Isner felt it was the biggest win of his life but didn’t attribute his success totally to himself, saying, “It’s the biggest win of my life. But what it means to me, is our team is up 2-0. Hats off to Mardy for winning the first [rubber]. It took a lot of pressure off of me. I shouldn’t take the court if I don’t believe I can go out and win this match. I owe a lot to captain Courier. He was on me in practice all week. He told me to do all the right things. The way I played today, that’s how I need to play in all of my matches.”

The Swiss are now down 2-0 to the U.S. team. Federer was not happy about his loss but took it gracefully, stating, “I thought he played great,” Federer said about Isner. “He played it tough and served great when he had to. I just missed a couple more opportunities than he did and that’s what cost me the match.” Federer still has another shot to redeem himself in Switzerland’s first round tie of the Davis Cup during the doubles match. Federer plays the best-of-five doubles match with 2008 Beijing Olympics co-Gold medalist Stanislas Wawrinka. They face doubles No.1 Mike Bryan and up-n-comer Ryan Harrison.

Saturday’s doubles match will surely be entertaining as the two defeated Swiss player’s give their comeback the best shot they can give. The former No.1 Roger Federer is showing no signs of fear, saying, “It’s been a difficult day for us. We still have a chance to go through. I’m going to enjoy the challenge.” Hopefully Federer will perform more Federer like during Saturday’s match.

Topics: Davis Cup, Roger Federer, Stanislas Wawrinka