1) I love USA athletics.
2) I love tennis.
If the United States of America has a sports team that competes against other countries - I will watch. Team USA badminton? Yes, please. Team USA curling? Give me a double-helping with the hammer on the side. And when you start talking Team USA Davis Cup tennis, a combination of two sports passions, forget it – clear my calendar. Round one of this year’s Davis Cup competition saw Team USA travel to Fribourg, Switzerland, to battle Federer and Co.
First, let me describe the format of a typical Davis Cup tie before I recap the exciting action. Each tie, or elimination competition, consists of five rubbers (yes, they are called rubbers), played over the course of three days. Each rubber is best of five sets and the first team to win three rubbers will advance to the next round. Day one consists of two singles matches, Day two is one doubles match and Day three includes two additional singles matches (where each individual plays a different opponent from Day one).
One last thing you should know about Davis Cup ties, the home country selects the venue, court-surface and setup. Not all international competitions enjoy a true home-court advantage, like Davis Cup. In my mind, this is what makes Davis Cup tennis particularly special.
For individual sports - like golf, tennis or track & field - competitions are typically a neutral affair. Sure, an athlete might gain some advantage by competing in their home country. But with Davis Cup tennis, the home team can setup the court to play to their strengths or the opponents weaknesses and crowds are definitely one-sided.
In the case of USA vs. Switzerland, the home side attempted to exploit the away team’s weakness by selecting indoor clay-courts. Team USA has earned the reputation of playing poor clay-court tennis. Therefore nearly all Davis Cup teams select a clay-court when Team USA roles into town. The matchup in Fribourg would mark Team USA's seventh straight away encounter contested on clay.
On this occasion Switzerland’s decision backfired. Not only was the court poorly constructed (regularly sending tennis balls bouncing in unpredictable directions) but also, clay is puzzling choice of surface for the Swiss wunder duo - Federer and Wawrinka. Yes, Roger has won the French open. I agree, Mr. Federer is very good on the dirt, overall.
But Roger has historically had better success on faster courts, specifically indoor hard-courts. As evidenced by his domination in Rotterdam just one week after this Davis Cup tie, at the ABN Amro world tennis tournament (not to mention his string of indoor success to end the 2011 season, winning three tournaments and 15 matches in a row).
As for Stan Wawrinka, in meaningful Davis cup matches since 2008 he has earned four wins and two losses on indoor hard-courts versus one win and one loss on indoor clay-courts. Although, in full disclosure, Stan the man does hold a career .621 win percentage on clay during his ATP tour career. But initially, the selection of indoor clay-courts seemed like more of a defensive choice to me rather than an offensive move on the part on the part of the home team.
Rubber #1 between Mardy Fish and Wawrinka was a terrific five-set encounter that featured multiple swings in momentum. Switzerland took a two sets to one advantage only to see Mardy breeze through the 4th set 6-1. Mardy needed two opportunities to serve for the match (once at 5-4) but eventually held on to win the 5th set 9-7.
The stage was set for Rubber #2. The home crowd was vocally behind their man, Roger, who looked focused from the start of the match. Federer broke the dominant serve of 6 foot 10 inch John Isner once and held on to win the 1st set 6-4. However, Big John would have the last laugh. The crowd was taken out of the match when the 2nd set went the way of the American 6-3. A highly competitive 3rd set reached a tie breaker, but the Isner serve was the difference. Team USA wins the 3rd set 7-6. With the crowd in relative shock and odd bounces seemingly favoring the American, John Isner finished the match in style, winning the 4th set 6-2.
Team USA clinched a victory in the 1st round tie on Day two with a hard-fought doubles win. After the Swiss doubles pair of Federer/Wawrinka took the 1st set 6-4, Team USA (Fish/Mike Bryan) won the next three sets 6-3, 6-3, 6-3. Wawrinka proved to be the weakest link out there on Day two, while the team of Fish/Bryan seemed to build chemistry and gain confidence as the match wore on.
Team USA completed the 5-0 sweep on Day three with victories in the two remaining dead-rubbers (matches that hold no bearing on the outcome of the series). With the pressure off, Team USA captain, Jim Courier, chose to give 19 year old Ryan Harrison his first taste of Davis Cup action. The captain was rewarded when Harrison rose to the occasion, winning two tie-break sets over Michael Lammer. In Rubber #5 John Isner continued his fine play. Marco Chiudinelli was no match for the giant American, dropping the match in straight sets.
This was an important Davis Cup Tie for Team USA - it marked their third consecutive victory on clay, dating back to 2010. Next up for Team USA is a challenging away contest against France. The tie starts on April 6th and will be played outdoors on clay. Hopefully the team can ride this positive momentum against a dangerous French team. The French captain, Guy Forget (pronounced: for-ZHAY), has four players ranked in the top 15 to choose from. Although, I expect him to select the same team he used in the first round match against Canada (Tsonga and Monfils in singles and Benneteau/Llodra in doubles).
U-S-A!!!!!
As for Stan Wawrinka, in meaningful Davis cup matches since 2008 he has earned four wins and two losses on indoor hard-courts versus one win and one loss on indoor clay-courts. Although, in full disclosure, Stan the man does hold a career .621 win percentage on clay during his ATP tour career. But initially, the selection of indoor clay-courts seemed like more of a defensive choice to me rather than an offensive move on the part on the part of the home team.
Rubber #1 between Mardy Fish and Wawrinka was a terrific five-set encounter that featured multiple swings in momentum. Switzerland took a two sets to one advantage only to see Mardy breeze through the 4th set 6-1. Mardy needed two opportunities to serve for the match (once at 5-4) but eventually held on to win the 5th set 9-7.
The stage was set for Rubber #2. The home crowd was vocally behind their man, Roger, who looked focused from the start of the match. Federer broke the dominant serve of 6 foot 10 inch John Isner once and held on to win the 1st set 6-4. However, Big John would have the last laugh. The crowd was taken out of the match when the 2nd set went the way of the American 6-3. A highly competitive 3rd set reached a tie breaker, but the Isner serve was the difference. Team USA wins the 3rd set 7-6. With the crowd in relative shock and odd bounces seemingly favoring the American, John Isner finished the match in style, winning the 4th set 6-2.
Team USA clinched a victory in the 1st round tie on Day two with a hard-fought doubles win. After the Swiss doubles pair of Federer/Wawrinka took the 1st set 6-4, Team USA (Fish/Mike Bryan) won the next three sets 6-3, 6-3, 6-3. Wawrinka proved to be the weakest link out there on Day two, while the team of Fish/Bryan seemed to build chemistry and gain confidence as the match wore on.
Team USA completed the 5-0 sweep on Day three with victories in the two remaining dead-rubbers (matches that hold no bearing on the outcome of the series). With the pressure off, Team USA captain, Jim Courier, chose to give 19 year old Ryan Harrison his first taste of Davis Cup action. The captain was rewarded when Harrison rose to the occasion, winning two tie-break sets over Michael Lammer. In Rubber #5 John Isner continued his fine play. Marco Chiudinelli was no match for the giant American, dropping the match in straight sets.
This was an important Davis Cup Tie for Team USA - it marked their third consecutive victory on clay, dating back to 2010. Next up for Team USA is a challenging away contest against France. The tie starts on April 6th and will be played outdoors on clay. Hopefully the team can ride this positive momentum against a dangerous French team. The French captain, Guy Forget (pronounced: for-ZHAY), has four players ranked in the top 15 to choose from. Although, I expect him to select the same team he used in the first round match against Canada (Tsonga and Monfils in singles and Benneteau/Llodra in doubles).
U-S-A!!!!!
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