KRISTEN’S KOURT: Querrey Saves Team USA on Day 1 of Davis Cup

Written by: Staff on 6th April 2013

KRISTEN'S KOURT: Querrey Saves Team USA on Day 1 of Davis Cup

epa03587834 Sam Querrey of the US hits a return against Milos Raonic of Canada during the semi-final match in the SAP Open tennis at HP Pavilion in San Jose, California, USA, 16 February 2013. EPA/JOHN G. MABANGLO |

Andy Roddick was known for his brilliance in Davis Cup and his ability to act as a closer when his team needed him. Today, in front of 8,115 people in Boise, Idaho Sam Querrey proved that he is the natural heir to that role with a thrilling five set victory over Viktor Troicki. Querrey’s win places the Americans on even ground after John Isner was unable to come out on top against world no. 1 Novak Djokovic.

Isner came out strong against Djokovic, who went down a break early in the first set. But it quickly became clear that there were almost as many Serbian fans in the crowd as there were USA fans. The encouragement from his countrymen proved to be instrumental for the top player in the world, who broke back and took the first set in a tiebreak. This is when things got a little odd. John Isner appeared to kind of just disappear from the match. Physically he was there of course, but mentally he seemed to clock out. Now in watching John in past Davis Cup matches the one thing I’ve noticed is that regardless of his physical (or mental) condition, he fights for his team – and he fights hard. Now maybe Novak just caught an extra strong surge of energy, but whatever the reason, the match came to a close very quickly – and rather one-sided as well. In exactly 2 hours, Serbia was up in the tie 1-0.

If Team USA was going to even stand a shot at making it through this tie, it was up to Sam Querrey. And though everyone (including myself) knew it was going to be a hard-fought match by both players, no one anticipated that we were looking at a five set, 3 hour and 20 minute match. From the first strike of the ball, it became clear that neither player was going down easy. Both were fighting for a purpose – Troicki to give his team a comfortable lead going in to the Saturday doubles match, and Querrey to just keep his team afloat.

It was a thrilling match – one worthy of the second week of a grand slam. But in the end, the American maintained his serve, his agility, and his composure and proved to his team (and the rest of the world) that he once again is the guy to count on. Tomorrow, Team USA will attempt to take the lead when number one doubles team Bob and Mike Bryan take court. The Bryan brothers have been the definitive doubles team for the Americans for quite some time, and will look to continue their success when they walk onto court tomorrow against Ilija Bozoljac and Nenad Zimonjic at 1:00 PM PST.

Topics: Andy Roddick, Davis Cup, John Isner, Novak Djokovic, Sam Querrey, Sports, Tennis, Tennis News

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KristensKourt says:

April 6, 2013 at 10:47 am

RT @10sBalls_com: KRISTEN’S KOURT: Querrey Saves Team USA on Day 1 of Davis Cup: http://t.co/RUufEa2lAY @KristensKourt #tennis