Davis Cup Quarter Final Preview

Well it’s time for the Davis Cup quarter finals and unlike some people and some players I appreciate the unique qualities of this event and how they compliment the tour and provide different aspects from run of the mill events, but enough of the hooplah, it’s time to get on with the previews.

Croatia vs Argentina

Understandably the Croats are huge favourites in this match, as they are playing at home in Zagreb on a very fast carpet surface which could rival the Minsk ice rink in comparison to surface quickness and the other factor is the Croats have better players than Belarus will make this one of the tougher challenges for the Argentine team.

The Croatian line up is Ljubo, Karate Kid Ancic, Tuksar and Cilic. I am not sure what the reason that big Karlovic wasn’t included in the squad for this tie. The only thing is that if something were to happen to Ljubicic or Ancic, then it could be trouble for them, but that would be unlikely.

Argentina do have very good tennis depth in relation to players in the top 100, but they need to capitalise on this depth and win a Davis Cup soon, before the generational change which will impact on Argentine tennis and make it more difficult for them to do so.

As for this tie they have a chance of winning for sure, but Nalbandian will have to be at his best and he has never lost a Davis Cup singles tie and he seems to thrive in this environment and doesn’t suffer from motivational problems.

The second singles player is going to be an interesting choice either out of Acasuso or Calleri. As I think Chela is there for backup and the doubles combination will be probably who doesn’t play in the second singles spot. Calleri has the better recent form and seems to thrive in the DC environment. Chucho has a better serve and in theory should be harder to break on this surface, though he does take big swings on the ball, then again this hasn’t stopped Ljubo before.

Just hope it’s 2 all and the 5th match scenario would be great, Argentina managed to beat Australia on grass and they can win here, they just need to play to their abilities and the only ball and not the other stuff. I see the Croats as the winners of this tie.

Australia vs Belarus

This is a tie the Aussies should win and the Belarussians don’t have a great record away from the Minsk ice rink. It will be played on Rebound Ace and as for the pace of the court that is subjective as Hewitt wants it faster, whereas faster wouldn’t harm the either the Beast or Mad Vlad.

For the Aussies the team is Hewitt, Arthurs, Guccione (the Arthurs clone with a forehand) and Hanley. It’s disappointing that Luczak has missed out playing a tie in his home city, but he can now concentrate on playing on clay and getting into the some of the big events.
The Belarussians are led by the Beast and have Mad Vlad as his backup, the guy who does nothing on tour, but when he is playing for Belarus, he comes out of nowhere and plays above his normal level.

Hewitt needs a big performance here to establish some sort of form as he hasn’t had the best of starts to the year, but he truly loves the Davis Cup and is not easy to beat in Australia in this event. His early loss in Miami, may have helped him in a way, though we won’t know to next week. As for the second spot it will probably go to Ronald McDonald Guccione as he has been playing, something Arthurs hasn’t of late.

Big Wayno will be in the doubles with Hanley and they have a very good combo, but big Max is an excellent doubles player as well, at the same time it could easily be over after the doubles. If the Aussies manage to lose this tie, I wonder what Hewitt will complain about and who will bear the brunt of the criticism.

France vs Russia

These two countries must be sick of meeting each other in Davis Cup as it has seemed to happen quite a lot recently.

The Frenchies have chosen to play this on a carpet surface and the choice of surface is an interesting one as the Russians are very capable on all surfaces except grass and the only grass at the moment in France is either for grazing, for dogs to shit on or to play football on.

As for the squads the French have chosen Gasquet, Grosjean, Clement (Forget’s poodle) and Llodra, which was successful against the Germans last time. It seems that they will have Clement/Llodra for the doubles and the other two for the singles and the doubles is where they have the advantage over the Russians, elsewhere the Russians seem to have them covered.

The Russian czar Shamil has named Safin, Davydenko, Tursunov and Youzhny for the tie. Safin has come back very strongly and is the best player in the game under a roof and on carpet which has been chosen for this tie and as long as he is fit, he should take his place and cause of his injury problems he will be the number 2 on the team and will play Gasquet and he has the game to crush Gasquet on this surface. In addition if it comes down to a 5th match, he plays very well against Grosjean and he would be favoured to win that.

PMK will do what he does and go around unnoticed and he can play quite well on this surface and the French might have to target him to get wins against in the singles, if they are going to get over the line.

Too bad Napoleon Forget didn’t include Santoro in this squad, as the potential deciding 5th match between Santoro and Safin would be worth watching alone, but this is just a dream.

USA vs Chile

The Americans have done the only logical and sensible thing in relation to court surface was to choose the grass.

Gonzalez and Massu play with such passion when it comes to playing for their nation and the Athens Olympics was an example of this. It’s not just about playing for themselves and they take great pride in playing for Chile and this is an occasion where they will need it for sure.

In this tie it is the respective number 2 players in the team, that have been showing the better form especially James “I went to Harvard, but I don’t play Harvard tennis” Blake and Nicolas “I am not a vampire I just hate garlic” Massu has played quite well this season so far. The problem for Massu especially is the surface and I am not sure he can win any of his singles matches.

As for the number 1 players in the team, neither of them have been in outstanding form. At the same time Davis Cup is a different beast and it can inspire or hinder players and hopefully for the Chilean team Fernando Gonzalez can lift his game and he will need to win on Day 1 for the Chileans to have a chance in this tie.

Doubles could be interesting with the chest bumping Bryan brothers playing Gonzo and Massu who play a unique form of doubles just belting huge groundstrokes from the baseline and hope they can hit through the Bryans.

Mr Roddick isn’t even winning the Mickey Mouse events in North America that he usually does and he has never won against Massu, but if he can’t beat him on a grass court in his home country, then there are some serious alarm bells.

Blake and Gonzo has the potential to be an exhibition of brainless ball bashing or maybe some quantum physics can be incorporated into this match. This will be last time Blake will be winning consecutive matches for a while.

The Americans should be too strong in this one, though I want to be proven wrong.