Happy Holidays everyone!  The following is from Yoav Saarony, a PTR and Traveling Coach who has worked with many young Americans, such as Kellen Damico and Madison Brengle.  It’s long, but it makes up for my lack of posting over the past week, thanks again Yoav! (more…)

Edit: I added this picture of the Bryans with a bunch of screaming GSTT clients in the background with their lime green Bryan’s Bunch T-Shirts.  Thanks Amber & Tiffany

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?

NOTE: This is a repost from something I wrote back in April, but given the Davis Cup Finals are on everyone’s mind I thought it would be worth posting again.  The readership has also tripled since April, so now 9 people out in cyberworld are reading.    Finally, since I will be traveling tomorrow and will not be able to post, Happy 58th Birthday to my pops.

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.  (more…)

I’m getting ready to get on a plane to Gothenburg tomorrow for the Davis Cup Semifinals between the United States and Sweden, for updated match information you can click here.  The US team will feature current stalwarts Andy Roddick, James Blake, and the Bryan brothers.  Opposing them will be Jonas Bjorkman, Thomas Johanssen, Joachim Johanssen, and Simon Aspelin.  Looks good for us on paper, but we will see.  I’ll have a full preview later in the week, once I’m settled in Gothenburg.  For today here are some links with tennis news from the weekend:

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.

It’s been awhile since I’ve posted, but I assure you,  this is the first chance I’ve had since the Fed Cup craziness started.  The last couple weeks have been a total whirlwind, but all went off without a glitch.  We definitely got a little lucky with the rain, as it rained non-stop before and after the event, but not during.  The only thing I would change is the outcome, as the Russians defeated the U.S. 3-2, needing a 7-5, 7-6 victory in the fifth and deciding rubber to secure the tie.  I’d love to comment more on the actual tennis, but I was inside the transportation trailer for pretty much the entire duration of the event (not to mention the week surrounding it), so anything I write would be a blatant lie. (more…)