Men’s Look Forward: Davis Cup

Written by: Staff on 31st January 2013

Men's Look Forward: Davis Cup

epa03542031 Radek Stepanek of the Czech Republic tosses the ball to serve during his match against Novak Djokovic of Serbia, in round three of the Australian Open tennis tournament in Melbourne, Australia, 18 January 2013. EPA/MARK DADSWELL AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND OUT |

Sometimes, minus one does not equal minus one.

That, at least, is the case when defending Davis Cup champions the Czech Republic take on the Swiss. The Czechs are minus Radek Stepanek — but the Swiss are minus Roger Federer. And while Stepanek has been a vital part of the Czech team for years, they at least can be said to have a #2 player in Lukas Rosol — plus, of course, the top player in the tie in Tomas Berdych. The Swiss have nothing except Stanislas Wawrinka — they list Henri Laaksonen at #2 singles.

Stepanek’s absence could be costly to him. He didn’t win as many Davis Cup matches as Berdych, but he won some. And he doesn’t have much to replace them with. It may not matter this week. It could matter own the road.

He’s one of the few who really has to worry about his Davis Cup points. The ATP may call Davis Cup the equivalent of a 500 point event, but it isn’t really possible to earn 500 points at Davis Cup — not unless a player supplies all of the team’s singles wins. And a team with only one winning singles player isn’t likely to win the Cup! So we find only a few players earning significant points from Davis Cup.

At least Stepanek will likely have another chance for Stepanek to earn points. The Czechs, and even the Swiss, are in good shape compared to Spain, which is without David Ferrer, Rafael Nadal, and Nicolas Almagro. That leaves them with Marcel Granollers, Marc Lopez, and hope. In one sense, they’re lucky; they face Canada, and Canada has only one top-flight singles player in Milos Raonic. So there is a good chance that it will come down to the doubles. And while Canada has Daniel Nestor for doubles, the Spanish have Lopez — now the world #3 — and Granollers. Despite all the losses, we’d say it’s a slight edge to Spain.

Croatia has one advantage as they go to visit Italy: They have the top player in the tie in Marin Cilic. But he has very little support; Ivan Dodig is their #2. Italy has Andreas Seppi, Fabio Fognini, Paolo Lorenzi, and a clay surface. That might be enough to give them the edge. On the other hand, they haven’t made it past the first round in more than a dozen years.

Serbia isn’t quite at full force — they have Novak Djokovic, Viktor Troicki, and Nenad Zimonjic but no Janko Tipsarevic. Still, that gives them two strong singles players and a solid doubles specialist. Belgium has only one player ranked above #90 (David Goffin). Interestingly, the Belgians decided to play Olivier Rochus — now 32 years old and the lowest-ranked player on the team — at #2 singles. To be sure, he’s the most experienced guy on the team — but we have to wonder if they aren’t simply sacrificing the Djokovic match to keep Steve Darcis (or someone) fresh for the reverse singles.

They did at least manage to get into Djokovic’s head. They’re playing on a clay surface laid over something else, and Djokovic is called it “the worst court” the team has played on. Which raises some thoughts about whether he’s every played on a public court…. It’s still hard to believe Serbia will lose.

Brazil has a pretty good doubles team in Melo/Soares. Too bad they’re supposed to play in the United States. Which means their doubles team has to face the Bryans. And, in singles, they don’t have much except Thomaz Bellucci. Against an American singles lineup of Isner and Querrey, their odds don’t look great. Unless Isner’s knee goes out again, anyway, but he is reported to be fully fit. And he and Querrey are both said to be excited to be playing at home — until now, they’ve mostly been stuck playing away ties, almost always on clay.

France is listed as having their full lineup: Tsonga, Gasquet, Benneteau, and Llodra. Israel didn’t even manage that — Andy Ram is still out, so their lineup is Sela, Weintraub, Erlich, and Okun. In other words, no Top Hundred singles players and no Top Forty doubles players. They’re supposed to play Sela and Erlich in doubles. Ouch.

Argentina may finally have David Nalbandian back (he’s supposed to play doubles despite having missed the Australian Open). And Juan Monaco. But — no Juan Martin del Potro. To be sure, Germany is missing Tommy Haas. But the Germans still have Philipp Kohlschreiber and Florian Mayer, and Argentina doesn’t have a good #2 behind Monaco; they’re currently listing Carlos Berlocq.

All the members of Kazakhstan’s rent-a-team — Kukushkin, Golubev, Korolev, and Schukin — are now ranked below #150. They face an Austrian team that isn’t very strong — Melzer, Haider-Maurer, Peya, and Knowle. Still, in this contest, you’d think Melzer’s name alone would be worth a couple of wins….