USA Davis Cup To Host Great Britain At Home In January

Written by: Bob Larson Tennis on 19th September 2013

USA Davis Cup To Host Great Britain At Home In January

epa03175671 US head coach Jim Courier during the Davis Cup quarter final match between French tennis player Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and US tennis player John Isner in Roquebrune Cap Martin, France, 08 April 2012. EPA/GUILLAUME HORCAJUELO |

Jim Courier’s USA team will go into their third successive Davis Cup home tie, at a site to be determined, when they play hosts to Great Britain in the 19th re-enactment of the competition’s original challenge staged 114 years earlier. Both teams treated their draw with the sort of respect that comes out of the longest of rivalries.

Neither captain was willing to get involved in any trash talking. US Davis Cup captain Courier said: “Great Britain will be a challenging and exciting opponent for us.

“It’s going to be memorable to have the two original Davis Cup nations face off again for the first time since the competition’s Centennial Celebration in 1999.”

British captain Leon Smith, who following last weekend’s win in Croatia now owns a 7-1 winning record since succeeding John Lloyd, said: “We’ll go into the tie with a lot of confidence and look forward to it. Certainly it’s going to be an exciting tie in prospect with fans remembering the great drama when the nations last met.”

The two nations have met only once since a rather one sided final in 1978 – when the American team captained by Tony Trabert and featuring a teenaged John McEnroe won 4-1. The most recent meeting came in 1999 in England’s second city of Birmingham and was regarded as something of a classic with Courier taking the role of the American hero winning a fifth rubber five setter 6-4,6-7,6-3,1-6,8-6 against Greg Rusedski.

On the face of it, the obvious point winners of the two teams will be the Bryan brothers for the United States in the doubles and world no.3 and Wimbledon champion Andy Murray, starting a clear favorite against both John Isner and Sam Querrey in the singles.

However the always potentially feisty Scot snapped back on Twitter at suggestions he was guaranteed to win two points. Responding to a Tweet from the regular ghost of his BBC website first-person column, Murray snapped back: “Do we go into the tie with a 2 zero head start? Or are you just assuming beating a 6ft 10 guy with rocket serve is a given?”

Smith took the view: “The great thing about the Davis Cup is that it’s a team effort which requires everyone to play their part. When we faced Russia in April, we were classed as the underdog, but Jonny Marray did well and Andy came in for these games and it’s been a great team effort. It’s the most exciting spectacle. Like what we saw in London at the Olympics, it’s time for the fans to get behind the team and it’s been character building for the players involved.”

Regarding Murray’s involvement next year, Smith added: “Yeah, he’s very committed. The great thing is it’s a time to get the players and staff together to work together and have a good time.”

Topics: 10sballs, Andy Murray, Bob Bryan, Davis Cup, Jim Courier, John Mcenroe, Mike Bryan, Sports, Tennis, Wimbledon