Today’s Men’s Feature (09/13) – Davis Cup

Written by: Staff on 13th September 2012

Today's Men's Feature (09/13) - Davis Cup

epa03372413 Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic hits a return to David Goffen of Belgium during their match on the second day of the 2012 US Open Tennis Championship at the USTA National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows, New York, USA, 28 August 2012. The US Open runs through Sunday 09 September 2012. EPA/PETER FOLEY |

Men’s Look Forward: Davis Cup

This is the tie where both teams start off on the wrong foot.

We’re referring to the contest between the United States and Spain. The Americans are just about assured of being wrong-footed, simply because Spain is hosting the tie on clay in Gijon. But they come in with additional handicaps. Andy Roddick is of course retired — one suspects he might have stuck around had this tie been on American soil, but why travel to Spain? Mardy Fish had physical problems at the U. S. Open. So the singles task, for the Americans, falls on John Isner and Sam Querrey. The good news is, the Americans will have the Bryans for doubles. That’s one point, anyway.

Especially since the Spanish are having doubles problems. They were planning to play Marcel Granollers and Marc Lopez, who have been having excellent results this year. But Lopez hurt himself at the U. S. Open, which means that the Spanish really don’t have much of a doubles lineup. Granollers/Lopez are still listed as playing, but they will almost certainly be hobbled.

And, of course, the Spaniards are without Rafael Nadal.

The flip side is, they have David Ferrer, the world’s #2 clay player, and Nicolas Almagro. On clay, that’s a pretty murderous lineup — assuming Ferrer isn’t too worn out after his U.S. Open showing. He is supposed to open the tie against Querrey, with Almagro versus Isner to follow.

Open Fatigue may also be a factor in the other tie, between Argentina and the Czech Republic — although they won’t have as much jet lag to worry about because they’re playing in Argentina. The Czech #1 singles player, Tomas Berdych, made the U. S. Open singles semifinal, and their #2, Radek Stepanek, was in the doubles final. Nor can they really hope to rotate them out, since their #3 is Lukas Rosol and their #4 is Ivo Minar. Expect, as usual, to see all Berdych and Stepanek until the tie is settled.

The Argentines have their own hole of sorts — no David Nalbandian. Although it helps somewhat that the Czechs decided to play on clay. That’s good for all three Argentine singles players, Juan Martin del Potro (who will be a little tired himself, but not as much as Berdych), Juan Monaco (should be well-rested), and Carlos Berlocq. Their fourth is doubles specialist Eduardo Schwank. The real danger for the Argentines is that del Potro has a bad wrist. It appears that the semifinal may be settled more by the players’ physical conditions than by the relative strengths of the actual teams.

The World Group Playoffs are a mixed bag in terms of team strength. Germany is without their #1-ranked player, Philipp Kohlschreiber, and their #1 in terms of history, Tommy Haas (one suspects their decision to leave Haas off the Olympic team played a part in that). That leaves them only one top singles player, Florian Mayer. They do have a strong doubles player in Philipp Petzschner. But the rest of the team is Benjamin Becker and Cedrik-Marcel Stebe (who has the #2 singles spot). On the other hand, they are hosting Australia on clay. That should surely help the Germans. Australia has pretty much their strongest possible lineup: Bernard Tomic, Matthew Ebden, Lleyton Hewitt (who will set the record for most ties played), and Chris Guccione. Hewitt will play singles and doubles — with Guccione in the doubles. Tomic is of course the #1 singles player.

Kazakhstan has their standard rent-a-team: Mikhail Kukuskin, Andrey Golubev, Evgeny Korolev, and Yuri Schukin (no, we don’t know why they bothered paying for Schukin). They’ll be hosting Uzbekistan, whose team has Denis Istomin and no one else. Tough to call that; the Uzbeks have the best player in the tie, but they have no depth. The Kazakhs have depth but no “stopper” who can really be relied upon. And they aren’t playing Golubev, their #2 player; they will use Kukushkin and Korolev in singles against Istomin and Farrukh Dustov.

Assuming no injuries, everything looks good for Japan; they are hosting their tie with Israel, and they have three players — Kei Nishikori, Go Soeda, and Tatsuma Ito — ranked higher than Israel’s #1 Dudi Sela. Jonathan Erlich and Andy Ram give Israel the edge in the doubles, but that still means that they need two singles points. And their #2 is Amir Weintraub.

Sweden, in the last few years, has stood or fallen on the results by Robin Soderling. And Soderling still isn’t back. Their listed top player is Michael Ryderstedt. They actually hauled Andreas Vinciguerra out of wherever he has hidden to play #2 singles. They will be facing Belgium. The Belgians aren’t very strong — their lineup is David Goffin, Steve Darcis, Olivier Rochus, and Ruben Bemelmans. That still looks more than strong enough; Sweden might win the doubles, but the singles looks hopeless.

Canada, with Milos Raonic and Daniel Nestor, looks ready to stomp a South African team that lacks Kevin Anderson.

Brazil is hosting Russia on clay, and they have Thomaz Bellucci for singles and Melo/Soares for doubles. That looks pretty good for Brazil. Things look even better for Italy; they have Andreas Seppi and Fabio Fognini for singles, and they’re hosting a Chilean team whose top player is Paul Capdeville.

Roger Federer continues his habit of always making sure Switzerland stays in the World Group. He and Stanislas Wawrinka are to head a Dutch team with Robin Haase, Igor Sijsling, Thiemo de Bakker, and Jean-Julian Rojer. Don’t bet on Federer playing reverse singles in that one.

We generally don’t talk much about the zonals, but it is interesting to note that neither Leander Paes nor Mahesh Bhupathi (nor, for that matter, Rohan Bopanna) is playing for India at this time.