Today’s Men’s News (11/18)

Written by: Staff on 18th November 2012

EXHIBITION GAME BETWEEN DJOKOVIC AND KUERTEN

Today's Men's News (11/18)

epa03475788 Serbian tennis player Novak Djokovic returns a ball during an exhibition game against Brazilian former tennis player Gustavo Kuerten at Maracanazinho colliseum in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 17 November 2012. EPA/Marcelo Sayao |

Davis Cup

We can, perhaps, argue about who is the best indoor player this year — although Novak Djokovic certainly has a strong case. But if we leave out Djokovic and Roger Federer, there isn’t much question: It’s not Andy Murray, it’s David Ferrer.

On Sunday, Ferrer took on Tomas Berdych, holder of two indoor titles this year, on Berdych’s home court — and thumped him. The score was 6-2 6-3 7-5, and Spain and the Czechs were even at 2-2.

Which left everything on the shoulders of Nicolas Almagro and Radek Stepanek. An interesting contrast. Almagro is more comfortable on clay, of course, whereas two of Stepanek’s five career titles have come on indoor hardcourt and the other three on outdoor hardcourt. But Almagro is much higher-ranked, is younger, and came in better rested. The Davis Cup twitter feed reported that only one player over the age of thirty has won a live fifth rubber in the Davis Cup final. And Stepanek turns 34 this month, and the other instance of it happening was all the way back in 1912!

Stepanek did all he could to shorten the match, coming to net at every opportunity — the stats show him coming in more than three times as often as Almagro in the first two sets. The problem was, Almagro still managed to keep Stepanek out there for two hours even as he was going down two sets to love. In the third set, fatigue seemed finally to start to tell. But Stepanek managed to find a second wind. He won the decider 6-4 7-6 3-6 6-3.

It is the first Davis Cup title for the independent Czech Republic, which is particularly noteworthy since this is the hundredth time the Cup has been played, and the first time in the memory of the Czech team members that they have won — Czechoslovakia took the title in 1980. It also means that the Czechs hold both the Davis and Fed Cups for 2012.

Berdych and Stepanek each won two matches. Hard to say who is the most valuable player in that situation. Pretty easy to know who will be most hurt, though; it’s Almagro, who suffered two losses — and who, as a result, will end the year at #11. He would have been #10 had he won either of his contests.

Follow 10SBALLS.COM on:

Facebook:

Twitter:

10sBalls Top Stories

In Case You Missed It

EUGENIE BOUCHARD NAMED 2018 TENNIS CANADA FEMALE PLAYER OF THE YEAR / EUGENIE BOUCHARD NOMMÉE JOUEUSE DE L’ANNÉE 2018 DE TENNIS CANADA

Tennis Canada announced on Wednesday that Eugenie Bouchard is the winner of the 2018 Excellence Awards in the Female Player of the Year and Singles Player of the Year categories.

TENNIS NEWS • CALIFORNIA CHAMPIONSHIPS • TOMMY HAAS, TAYLOR FRITZ, STEVE JOHNSON, MARDY FISH AND MORE

Time to get tickets to watch! Surly you have heard about The Largest Open Tennis Event in America!

TENNIS NEWS • RAFA NADAL CONFIRMS RETURN TO PRACTICE, EYES ABU DHABI EXHIBITION AND AUSTRALIAN SUMMER

According to Uncle Toni, Rafael Nadal was supposed to be back at practice on either Dec. 4 or 5. Well, better late than never!

Conchita Martínez prepara la temporada 2019 de Karolina Pliskova en Tenerife

Española y checa ya trabajaron juntas durante el pasado Open de Estados Unidos

ALEJANDRO’S FAVORITE PHOTOS FOR 10SBALLS FROM SOME OF THIS YEAR’S TOURNAMENTS

Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia hits a forehand to Kaia Kanepi of Estonia during her second round match at the Nature Valley International tennis tournament in Eastbourne, Great Britain, on Tuesday, June 26, 2018.