In Moscow, although the US women fell to the heavily-favored Russians (3-2, although the Russians did clinch after the first 3 mathces, as the Spaniards did), there is definitely a silver lining for the losing team – both young singles players competed extremely well throughout the weekend.  Vania King, 19 years old and ranked 115th in the world, lost in two close sets to 6th ranked Anna Chakvetadze, and pushed world number 14, Vera Zvonareva, to a third set.  Ahsha Rolle, 23 and ranked 145th, was destroyed by Kuznetsova on Saturday, but bounced back to defeat Elena Vesnina, ranked more than 100 spots ahead of Rolle, in straight sets on Sunday.  Finally, King paired with Doubles World # 1 Liezel Huber to win the final rubber. 

As some of the higher ranked American women scale back from Fed Cup competition (something I do not advocate, but understand given the heinous scheduling of Fed/Davis Cups), it is important for the USTA and Zina Garrison, or any future captain, to be able to rely on some lesser ranked/known players to compete and represent Team USA in typical fashion. 

I’ll be honest, the only player I have heard of in the other Semifinal matchup, China vs. Spain (in Beijing), is Shuai Peng.  However, after doing a bit of research, it seems as though China has the slightly stronger singles players, and much stronger doubles team, so they would be my pick.  Although if gambling on this Fed Cup Tie, please don’t put any stock into what I just wrote.

I linked to Gimelstob’s blog about Fed Cup yesterday, but only after writing about this weekend did it really hit me…as much as I complain about the Davis Cup format, the Fed Cup is really in need of some changes.  This weekend is the Semi’s, four teams comprised of four players each – out of 16 players only three are marquee names (all Russians – Kuznetsova, Chakvatadze & Safina).  Maybe as countries like Serbia, featuring Ana Ivanovic and Jelena Jankovic (who both participated in a World Group playoff this winter) make their way into the World Group, the competition will be a bit more in line with the Davis Cup. 

Russia vs. Czech Republic (Moscow, Indoor Clay) – I picked Russia to go down to the Czech Republic 3-2.  Instead, Safin set the tone with a 4 hour, come from behind win in the opening rubber against Berdych to vault the Russians to a 3-2 victory.  One thing of note here, I am a bit surprised the Czech’s put out Stepanek with Vizner for doubles instead of Dlouhy (Dlouhy and Vizner finished 5th in the world last year), and they ended up losing the crucial doubles rubber.

Argentina vs. Sweden (Buenos Aires, Outdoor Clay) – I picked Argentina to win 4-1, and they went ahead and proved me right.  Soderling must have played out of his mind this weekend though, as he destroyed Acasuso on Friday (my quote from the preview gave him only a “small chance”), and he pushed Nalbandian to the brink in a 9-7 5th set loss.  Soderling is only 23, so if the Swedes can get another strong singles player with him they have a good shot to vault back into the upper echelon of Davis Cup teams in the near future.

Germany vs. Spain (Bremen, Indoor Hard) – I picked against the grain here and thought Germany might challenge Spain on Hard courts at home, I was wrong.  This match was actually clinched for the Spaniards on Saturday, and the Germans avoided a sweep when Kiefer won, for all intensive purposes, a meaningless fifth rubber over Feliciano Lopez.

USA vs. France (Winston-Salem, Indoor Hard) – I was spot on in this Tie as well.  Through the strong singles play of both Roddick and Blake, the USA advanced with a 4-1 win over France.  However, this tie was a bit closer than it appeared.  Blake had to save two match points (while returning) in his marathon five-set victory over Mathieu on Friday to give the USA a 2-0 lead.  What if Blake had lost that match?  Instead of being up 2-1 on Sunday, the USA would have been down 2-1 and faced a TON more pressure…Well, it doesn’t really matter.

Semifinal matches are as follows (September 19-21): USA visiting Spain & Russian visiting Argentina.

Links:

WTA Clay Court preview, courtesy of Sandra Hewitt at ESPN.

ESPN’s Bonnie Ford recaps the USA/France tie.

A YOUNG American makes his mark.

Federer is trying out a new coach this week.  He won his first match, but not easily.

Russia vs. Czech Republic (Moscow, Indoor Clay) – In a surprise move, Davydenko is not playing singles this weekend.  Maybe he was mentally and physically exhausted after capturing last week’s Sony Ericsson Open, but he is playing the best tennis of his career, and playing a couple of streaky players like Andreev and Safin seems risky.  On the other side, Berdych is also playing extremely well and has the capability of winning both his singles matches.  I like the Czech to win, 3-2 in a tight match, for two reasons – 1. Stepanek and Berdych are a more solid pair than Andreev and Safin and 2. The Czech doubles team of Dlouhy and Vizner have plenty of experience playing together (finishing 5th in the world last year).

Argentina vs. Sweden (Buenos Aires, Outdoor Clay) – Argentina, at home, should roll in this tie.  I can see the Swedish Doubles team of Bjorkman and Lindstedt possibly winning their match, and Soderling has a small chance against Acasuso, but the Argentines on clay will dominate.  I’ll give the Swedes one match, but my pick here is easy, Argentina 4-1.

Germany vs. Spain (Bremen, Indoor Hard) – This is an intriguing matchup (that would be even more intriguing if Haas were playing) because while Spain appear to be the clear favorites on paper, playing at home on indoor hardcourt could really give the Germans a fighting shot here.  Is it that far-fetched too see Ferrer, who has played relatively poorly so far in 2008, losing both his singles matches to talented players Kiefer and Kohlscreiber? Or for Spanish baseliners Verdasco and Lopez to come up empty handed in doubles?  The answer is No, it is not that far-fetched.  However, I still don’t think it will happen.  I’ll pick Spain, but in a closer match than most people think, 3-2.

USA vs. France (Winston-Salem, Indoor Hard) – If I wrote this blog this morning, this part would have been a lot longer.  However, now with both Gasquet and Tsonga out for France, I don’t think they have much of a chance.  In order for them to win, not only would they need a win out of Clement and Llodra in the doubles match (they did beat the Bryans last time they played, but the Bryans are 14-1 in Davis Cup play), they would also need Mathieu to defeat both Blake and Roddick, because I don’t see Llodra winning a singles rubber.  Like Germany vs. Spain, all the above COULD happen, but it won’t.  I’ll go with the US 4-1.

I’ll post a bunch of links tomorrow, today I’m going to prove how smart I am – below are results from the first round with my picks in parentheses:

US over Austria 4-1 (US over Austria 4-1); France over Romania 5-0 (France over Romania 5-0); Spain over Peru 5-0 (Spain over Peru 4-1); Germany over South Korea 3-2 (Germany over South Korea 4-1); Sweden over Israel 3-2 (Sweden over Israel 3-2); Argentina over Israel 4-1 (Argentina over Israel 5-0); Czech Republic over Belgium 3-2 (Czech Republic over Belgium 4-1); Russia over Serbia 3-2 (Russia over Serbia 3-2).

So before you think I am bad at this kind of thing, realize I picked every tie correctly and only missed a perfect prediction by four matches.

US at Austria – Even on clay, the Austrians are simply overmatched. Jurgen Melzer and Stephan Koubek are solid singles players, and may take one of the four rubbers, but I see Blake, Roddick and the Bryans getting the Americans off to a solid start, and taking the tie 4-1.

France at Romania – Pretty much the same story here as with the US/Austria matchup. Romanian team is more than capable, but Tsonga and Gasquet will be too much to overcome. France in a rout, 5-0.

Spain at Peru – Even without their top guns, a Spanish team comprised of singles players Tommy Robredo and Nicholas Almagro (along with Lopez and Verdasco) should be able to roll over Peru. However, Luis Horna is a dangerous player, and has a good chance to lead himself and Ivan Miranda to a doubles victory. Spain 4-1.

South Korea at Germany – While Hyung Taik-Lee is a very dangerous player, I simply can not see Germany (even without Haas) losing at home. Germany 4-1.

Sweden at Israel – My heart would love to pick Israel here, but my head is telling me they are not quite ready to upset a veteran team like Sweden to win their first World Group match since 1987. Sweden 3-2.

Great Britain at Argentina – Andy Murray pulled out of this tie, thus leaving a potential huge upset on the table. The Argentines have Nalbandian and a few of there lesser players (of course “lesser” for Argentina is still better than most), and if Andy had played I would’ve given GB a fighting chance, but as it stands I like Argentina in a sweep, 5-0.

Belgium at Czech Republic – If this were in Belgium, I’d give Olivier Rochus and company a shot, but not in Ostrava against heavyweights like Berdych & Stepanek. CR 4-1.

Serbia at Russia – This has to be the highlight of the first round. Serbia has Djokovic and Tisparevic (not to mention a very talented doubles player Zimonjic), and will take themselves into the heart of Russia, Moscow, to take on Russia. Comprised of three players in the top 35 (Davydenko, Youzhny & Tursonov) and one of the most talented players out there, Safin, Russia is the favorite, and I’ll be safe and pick them to win 3-2, but do not be surprised to see an upset here. Especially since upsets seem to be the theme of the week in sports- with the Atlanta Hawks beating the LA Lakers last night, and Louisville beating Marquette in Men’s college basketball on Monday…not to mention the BIGGEST one of all- of course I’m talking about Rutgers giving the UConn Women’s team its first loss of the season.

Links:

Brother Jamie not happy with brother Andy.

Joel Drucker’s thoughts on Roddick.

Wertheim mailbag.

Kind of saw it coming given all his shoulder issues, but still is unfortunate.

     First of all I just wanted very quickly to respond to something Jeremy said in the last blog about Davis Cup.  Jeremy stated that Andy Roddick is the man for his Davis Cup Performance.  I as a tennis coach was really thrilled to read that.  I am so proud of Andy and the rest of the boys for doing our nation so proud.  They really stepped up and they did so because it was their time to do that.  I was so impressed on so many levels.  I loved the way he incorporated the slice backhand and used it over and over again to hurt Tursunov.  I can honestly say that under that pressure to have a good strategy is not nearly enough.  To be able to execute that strategy was real solid and paid off tremendously.  I love the way Andy competed and how hungry he truly was for that Davis Cup.  I happened to meet Andy recently at the Billie Jean King/Elton John Aids benefit in Philadelphia.  I had the pleasure of hanging with him a bit and listen to him speak about Davis Cup.  The conversation went something like this(he was speaking to Captain Patrick Mcenroe) who was also there at the event.  I was coaching a player participating in the event and we were in the players lounge.  Andy said: “Hey Pat  did you hear that Davis Cup sold out in about thirty minutes?” Captain responded with a pumped up “yes I did, I can’t wait it’s going to be a madhouse.” I interject and said I  know your going to bring it home you want more than they do.  Andy responded ” we want it real bad it’s going to be amazing.” I look upto Andy for being so focused on the prize for putting country first and always competing his hardest.  People knock Andy in this country that he is a disappointment.  Those people don’t know anything about anything.  Andy works his butt off to get in shape, practices hard, doesn’t play a soft schedule , plays every Davis Cup tie,and wants to win so badly because he almost hates to lose more than liking to win.  To win that Davis Cup is like winning many grand slams in his eyes because he loves team, he loves competing and he’s a damn proud American.  Atta boy Andy way to represent !!!!!
     Now on to James Blake.  Again, he wanted it so badly.  Those guys have been a solid team for a long time and were building and building momentum.  When it was time to perform for the home crowd everyone brought their A game.  James has been criticized by people for not winning the big matches and having too much of an all for nothing approach.  I felt he played smartly, had a lapse here or there but again from my coaching experiences it is very normal to have small lapses.  The way he played big points was incredible.  He also took great advantage of the fans support and displayed once again what a class act he is.  The way he represents his country, himself and his sport brought a huge smile to my face.  It is sometimes a form of amusement to hear people knock players when they have truly never felt the kind of pressure these guys face.  So I gave mad props to James for winning the biggest match of his career.   Its not a grand slam, it’s not a master series or any other big ATP event it is a team event where the prize money is doing your country proud not a check to be deposited.  I have always been a big Blake fan now I’m a huge Blake Fan.  Atta Boy James!!!!!
     Of course there are the Bryan Brothers.  What else can I say but AUTOMATIC!!!  These guys bring it every time and absolutely love it.  Ive run into these guys at some tournaments.  I was coaching Kellen Damico (a top world ranked Junior) and present Texas Longhorn.  We were at Roland Garros watching the boys play a French team.  Kellen being as patriotic as anyone I ever met had a USA headband on.  We started chanting USA and go Bryans Go and they were so thankful at the end of the match.  They personally thanked us and gave me a nice Roland Garros towel ( which made it my third one cause i already lifted two from the locker room) sorry about that!!!  I got such good vibes from them and their genuineness.  Every time they play Davis Cup they play smarter and better than their Opponents and and always want it more.  Their energy is infectious and they play every match like it’s their last.  Truly American Tennis Icons-if you ask me.  So again, it was so sweet and appropriate that a match the prepared for their whole lives together as a team and as brothers came out like all the others-AUTOMATIC except this one clinched the Cup.  How sweet it is!!!  ATTA BOYS!!!
      I intended to write this blog about my coaching experiences on the World Junior  tour and on the Pro tour.  However, I got sidetracked by my Davis cup excitement so I will write that blog very soon. 
     Thanks Grand Slam Tennis Tours for bringing the game that I love so much to so many people it is a great thing.  Also, Jeremy thanks for your constant insight.  I agree with you the majority of the time and when I don’t its just because we like different Baseball teams.  Happy Holidays everyone, I know I got what I wanted more than anything this year, that’s right the Davis Cup Baby!!!

Photo: Taken by Nifer Knight

First off I should apologize for my lack of blogging.  Between Thanksgiving, getting everything ready for our trip to Portland, the trip to Portland itself, and then flying from flooding on one coast to a snowstorm on the other, I simply didn’t have the time.   Secondly, congrats and thanks to the city of Portland and the Memorial Coliseum, who I thought for the most part did a wonderful job of hosting the finals (besides closing down concession stands before the matches were over).  It is not easy to pull off an event of this magnitude under normal circumstances, but a city usually doesn’t even know it is going to host a Davis Cup Tie until about 6 weeks before the event itself, making it even harder.  Lastly, and most importantly, congratulations to the 2007 U.S. Davis Cup Team of Andy Roddick, James Blake, the Bryan Brothers and Pat McEnroe.  These guys have stuck together over the past few years after some real tough defeats, and managed to destroy the defending champs from Russia to capture the first U.S. Davis Cup Title since 1995.  Now, some random thoughts from my weekend in Portland:

- Despite what you might think of Andy Roddick, he is pretty much the man.  He destroyed Tursonov (who had beaten Roddick 17-15 in the 5th and deciding rubber of last year’s Semi’s) after barely competing over the past couple months.  Why did he not compete and try to win ranking points and money over the past couple months?  So he could be as close to 100% as possible for this past weekend, because winning the Davis Cup was as important to him as anything else, and the same cannot be said for many of his fellow top 10 players. 

- Some of the lineup moves Tarpischev made were suspect.  You win or lose with your best, right?  I guess one could make the argument that starting Youhzny and Tursonov ahead of Davydenko in singles was the right decision.  Even though Davydenko is #4 in the world, he has certainly not played quality tennis since the US Open, and is probably playing more like the 4th best player in his country right now.  What I really don’t understand is using Andreev and Davydenko as a doubles team.  Everyone in the world who follows tennis, and most who don’t, knew the Bryans would have little trouble dispatching two baseliners, even if they do have monster returns.  And please, spare me the whole “but it was close for a little while” or “two guys playing back could’ve really messed with the Bryans,” because both arguments are absurd.  The Bryan’s were NEVER going to lose that match.

-I know some people were slightly disappointed that the Bryan’s won on Saturday, making Sunday more or less pointless.  But, a sweep also meant that each player on the US team had a direct hand in winning the final tie.  Considering each member’s dedication over the past few years, it was definitely a nice way to cap things off.

-Let’s not forget about James Blake either.  His win over Youhzny to give the US a commanding 2-0 lead was not exactly a surprise, but at the same time I think a lot of us watching felt like pre 2004 Boston Red Sox fans.  Meaning, things were looking good, but we were on the edges of our seats waiting for the other shoe to drop.  Then on Sunday against Tursonov, Blake got off to a slow start (possibly because the match was somewhat meaningless, but probably because he was hungover) but watching him reel off those two last sets was a nice way to cap off what was definitely a redeeming tie for Blake.

- Portland seems like an awesome city, but it would’ve been nicer had I seen the sun. 

Also wanted to thank Barry MacKay and Leif Shiras for their terrific insight.  I’ll be back tomorrow or Friday with some other random news and links, for now go here to see the press conference transcripts, some of which are pretty entertaining.  Especially the USA one from day 3, notice all the interjections Roddick has – who wants to bet he had the most pre-conference champagne?

As I noted in yesterday’s post, this past weekend was my first Davis Cup experience.  If you read it, I’m sure you could tell that I thoroughly enjoyed it.  I’m also pretty sure that the many thousands of fans around me would tell you the same thing.  Furthermore, although I can’t say for certain, I would bet that the ten’s of thousands of fan’s that experienced the Davis Cup Tie’s around the world enjoyed it as well, most of them anyway.  Lastly, I haven’t seen that much passion from both the player’s and fan’s in the 17 years I have been following tennis. 

So why is the Davis Cup such an afterthought for players and fans alike? Maybe because it’s scheduled about as well as an early April MLB series in Cleveland, Ohio (who had games snowed out).  So let’s think, what could we possibly do to make the Davis Cup better?  What other country wide team event can we use as a basis for our new Davis Cup format? How about the soccer/football/futbol World Cup?  I’m not suggesting that we hold the Davis Cup every four years, although every year makes it a little less meaningful I think.  So, let’s use Golf’s Ryder Cup and hold the Davis Cup every two years.  Now, instead of scheduling the Davis Cup Tie’s on random weekends throughout the year, why don’t we instead make it a two week event at the end of the season.  Here comes everyone’s first complaint – “but the tour season is already too long, we can’t extend it!”  Well, as I have written in this space before, let’s knock off a couple tournaments.  Sure, it’s probably not that easy to just “knock off a couple tournaments,” but I’m sure the bigwigs at the ATP, WTA, etc can figure it out. 

So now we have a two week event, every two years at the end of the season.  A typical Davis Cup Tie, is a 3-day event, so if we still use 16 teams (meaning 4 rounds), players would probably kill themselves over the event because many singles players might have to play eight best of 5-set matches during the event.  Here is where I would alter the format of each tie a bit, instead of the reverse singles format, I would suggest each team comes up with four singles players (singles players have the option to play doubles).  Using this format, you could play a tie in as short as one day.  However, since we know the ultimate goal would be to sell tickets and make more money, each tie could still be a 3-day event.  If the tournament started on a Monday, it would shape up like this: Round 1 – Monday to Wednesday; Round 2 – Thursday to Saturday; day off Sunday; Semifinals – Monday to Wednesday; day off Thursday; Finals – Friday to Sunday.   On a sidenote, I realize I am completely ignoring the whole World Group/Zonal Group qualifying system, but right now I only care about the big event itself, others can figure out how we get there.

Another issue that would arise would be which country hosts the event.  Easy, have some kind of panel and let them vote on different countries that bid to have it, similar to the World Cup and Olympics.  Now on to a more difficult task, the surface.  Unlike golf and soccer, which are pretty much played on grass exclusively, tennis has a plethora of surfaces to choose from.  Pick clay, and the U.S. would get angry, pick hard and the Spaniards would hate.  The only plausible solution I can come up with is rotating the surfaces – hardcourt, clay, grass, hardcourt, clay, grass…

I’m sure there are some holes in my scheme, but does this not sound like it would draw a pretty substantial crowd, and if marketed correctly, be a bigger TV draw than the Grand Slams?  Lately, the Americans have been fortunate in having their best players play, but the same can not be said for every country.  The two biggest names in tennis, Federer and Nadal, are not exactly mainstays on their respective Davis Cup teams.  Or take a look at the Women (this same theory can obviously be applied to the Fed Cup as well), the U.S. is taking on Belgium April 20-22 and neither Clisters or Henin are taking part.  And the truth of the matter is, I understand.  Why would Nadal play Davis Cup right before the clay court season, and risk not being 100%?  The bottom line is that the Davis and Fed Cups, as they are currently held, do not mean enough to everyone to make it worthwhile for everyone to play.  So I think tennis execs around the globe need to come up with a way to give the Davis and Fed Cups the drama and the excitement of events like the Ryder and World Cups, and my proposal is one way of doing that.

Update: Six months and another Davis Cup Tie later, I still believe that the format needs to be changed.  However, one alteration I would make to my original post is making teams come up with four singles players.  Simply put, that would be incredibly unfair.  You would have the same few teams in the Semifinals most years (like USA, Russia, Spain & Argentina) because most countries simply do not have the depth others do.  My original intent in naming four singles players was to decrease the number of high pressure, five set matches a singles player would have to play.  After reading the post again, I realized there is a far simpler solution – make each match best of three sets.  Any other ideas out there?

Momma Davenport’s comeback is ahead of schedule.

Russia, after defeating the US in Stowe, VT a couple months back (much to Nifer Knight’s dismay), took home their 3rd Fed Cup.

My personal favorite player of all time is considering retirement.

Fernando Gonzalez, who seems to have fallen off the map since his run to the Australian Open finals, won a singles title for the first time in two years.

Gimelstob on early retirement.

Ana Ivanovic is aiming higher than being just a top 10 player.

I’d love to write my thoughts on the epic Men’s Wimbledon Final, but that is such old news already.  I will say this however, Nadal and Federer are on such a different level than everyone else right now, that it is starting to bore me watching other matches, because it’s as if I know that they are meaningless because Federer will play Nadal in the finals anyway.  The next six weeks leading up to the US Open are going to be crucial for many players to make statements.  Guys like Djokavic, Roddick, Gonzalez and others in the top 15 are going to need some solid results during the US Open Series to give them the confidence they will need to knock off Nadal or Federer.  There seems to be lots of talk about Nadal and his disappointing second half last year and how he will do this year.  Last year he took off the entire month of July, and while I’m sure he needed the rest it definitely threw off his rhythm.  He is taking a different approach this year, and is currently dominating Juan Monaco in the quarterfinals of Stuttgart.  I think you would be hard pressed to find anyone in the tennis world who things Nadal will have another poor second half in 2007.

James Blake, whose autobiography “Breaking Back” debuted at No. 22 on the NY Times Bestseller Non Fiction list, is probably the one player in the top 10 who needs a terrific summer more than anyone.  After having a career year last year and finishing 2006 as the top American, he has had a somewhat underwhelming 2007.  He is a mere 5-3 in the Grand Slams thus far, not making it past the 4th round, and has one only 1 title thus far back in January, after winning five titles in 2006.  However, it’s no secret that  Blake’s best tennis comes on outdoor hardcourts, so look for him to have some good results as we near the US Open.  He struggled a bit in LA needing to save a matchpoint against Paul Goldstein, but with each win will come added confidence that he will need if he wants to equal or better his last two US Open appearances, where he fell in the quarters.

That’s all for now, posts will become more and more frequent as we lead up to the US Open, where I will be blogging daily.  For now, here are some links:

Momma Davenport is making a comeback.

Joel Drucker’s US Open Series preview.

Tennis Channel will be covering Wimbledon next summer.

Cheap way for me to broadcast our commercial for those who didn’t see it during the Fed Cup coverage.