Thursday, September 20, 2007

Davis Cup World Group Semi Finals : News and reports from these matches welcomed in the comments section

Russia vs. Germany

The Russians are strong favourites for this even without Marat "Reinhold Messner" Safin who is off to Nepal climbing mountains and also he has a wrist problem as for the view on this choice. Well good for him and if he is not enjoying playing tennis and can't do it, then climbing a mountain on the Nepalese-Tibetan border isn't such a bad place to be.

There seems to be news from the Russian camp that the PMK has picked up a wrist problem and it's a question of how serious it is. If so, then he would miss the season, but this is not likely and wouldn't surprise if this was a move from the Tsar Russian Davis and Fed Cup captain Tarpishev to throw some confusion into the German camp. Andreev is playing first against Haas and then Davydenko has been named to play Kohlschreiber. Haas has been bitching about the court, but this is not a surprise and I expect Igor to get the money here and as for the second match well the PMK has never done that well in surface transition and Kohli has been the best German player on clay this season and it should be interesting to see how he handles this challenge.

The Germans have the advantage in the doubles, but it will need Haas to win both his matches to give the Germans a victory in this tie. It's not very likely, but anything can happen. The best thing is if the Germans won and the Americans did, then the final would be in Germany. Personally I think the Russians with their depth and ability to rotate their squad is a big advantage and will get them to another final.

Sweden vs. USA

The other World Group semi final between the Swedes and the Americans, who have done battle a few times in the past in the Scandinavium and the Americans have lost every time. The usual happens the Americans have the individual stars and the Swedes are better as a team and the Swedes have won these matches. 1984 was famous in Swedish tennis history and the team of Wilander, Sundström, Edberg and Järryd defeated John McEnroe, Connors and Fleming which was the Dream Team as names go, but they behaved like absolute arse clowns and were a disgrace to the sport.

Wilander is now the captain of the Swedish team and maybe he could use that as a motivational tool for this team, and they will need it especially since their best player and the key to this tie Robin "The Toad" Söderling is out for the rest of the season with a wrist problem. Toad wanted them to choose clay, but with hindsight it was good that they stuck with the ice rink they used against Argentina.

The Swedes have Pim Pim Johansson coming back from another shoulder problem, sure he is lacking matches, but this is their best chance of Sweden winning and there won't be many rallies at all and if he beats Roddick on Day 1, then it could set things up. Thomas Johansson will need to play out of his skin and at home in Davis Cup is the best possible time. The serve is going to be a huge factor, so the ability to concentrate and take those half chances are the key for the Swedes. It will be a difficult task with Roddick and the Bryan Bros, the Swedes have to get it to a 5th match and James Blake isn't necessarily the guy you want to play away from home to win a vital 5th match.

Looks like a Russia vs. US final lets hope that is not the case.

World Group Playoffs Part 1 including Chile, Brazil, Peru and Aussie matches

Israel vs. Chile

Fernando Gonzalez returned to form at the right time with a title win in Beijing and will want to atone for the disappointment against Russia in the 1st round, when he lost to Andreev on Day 1 and that cost Chile a chance to make the Davis Cup final and we know how much Gonzo and Massu both love playing for their country. Massu has been in woeful form of late and there were some calls for Capdeville to replace him, but Gildemeister made the call to stick with Massu and he opens up the tie against "the Dude" Dudi Sela and the hardcourt surface should be fairly fast. It wouldn't surprise if 'the Dude" beats Massu. The doubles will be interesting with Erlich/Ram against Gonzo/Massu, one team being of doubles specialists and the other one have known each other for years and play very well as a combination when playing for Chile. Though the Chileans should be too strong overall and will return to the World Group.

Serbia vs. Australia

The shenanigans started early in the week with the Aussies complaining about the state of the court in Belgrade with Hewitt making comments about craters. Temporary courts need time to be ready and to be played on before they can get to an acceptable standard. The Aussies should know this when they use the drop-in grass courts and there have been problems with that in the past. The ITF referee would have the option of cancelling the tie if the court was unplayable and too poor to play on.

Onto the tie now and the Serbians are big favourites and are very confident about their chances. They have not been shy in stating this and they have good reason to as well. Novak Djokovic is on fire at the moment, plus Janko Tipsarevic is another guy who lifts his level for Davis Cup play, plus the very likeable Nenad Zimonjic, who happens to be one of the worlds best doubles players and the Serbs have a good foundation. They are both very comfortable on the clay and they will have 20,000 Serbian fans cheering them on in a hostile atmosphere for the Aussies.

The Aussies of course are dependant on Hewitt and have been for a while. He has bitched about a lot of things, but he needs that so he can fire up and function on court and he loves the hostile environments, actually I think he gets a hard on when he plays in places he is hated. I mean he has played in Guga land and came out the winner, he played in Barcelona and defeated Costa, when the whole crowd wanted to have his head on a platter. Last year he was in Argentina where he isn't exactly loved through his previous confrontations with many Argie players, but he has shown he can handle hostile environments.

Peter Luczak, one of the best guys on tour has been selected for the second singles and will have the task of playing Djokovic in the 1st match. It will be tough for Luczak, but just hope he can put on a brave performance and if Djoko is going to beat him, then he keeps him out there for as long as it takes. Luczak loves the clay and he could get the ball into uncomfortable areas for Djokovic shoulder and head high and he can run all day, plus he loves the DC environment, but it will be a tall order and the Aussies will be fortunate if they can get it to a 5th match.

Austria vs. Brazil

This tie is looking ugly for Brazil either way you look at it. They will be playing on carpet away from home, in addition to the fact that they have lost Saretta and Melo part of the excellent Brazilian team of Melo and Sa. Guga is in the team, but is only fit enough these days for playing doubles. They will take in Mello, Sa, Guga and Belucci the youngster as their team and they will do well if they win a match this time around. Belucci is a youngster with promise, but he is definitely going to be a steep learning curve in this situation.

Melzer, El Fashionista, Eschauer and Knowle will be playing for the Austrians and they should be able to preserve their World Group status by the 2nd day and this will give Eschauer an opportunity at 34 to play Davis Cup. This will work for Koubek as well, he can get a flight to Mumbai earlier if they win on Day 2 as expected.

Peru vs. Belarus

Unlike the previous tie previewed this one is very difficult to call for a few reasons. Peru if they win achieve WG status for the first time in a long time and at home they should be favoured to do so, which brings a lot of different pressures in itself. Last time Peru were in the WG they had the man Jaime Yzaga as a top player and now he is the captain and this tie will depend on Lucho Horna for sure. He loves the DC and to lead his team to WG status would be a very big moment for him. He will be under pressure and expected to win both his singles matches, this leads to where the other win will come from. Chino Miranda will have to play the tennis of his life to help Lucho out and his match with Mirnyi could set the mood for the tie on Day 1.

Belarus have the beast Max Mirnyi and the vodka loving Voltchkov, who only plays DC these days and not on the tour. He has been playing clay Futures events and maybe laying off the vodka as well. It would be interesting to see if the Belarussians would put the French Open junior champion Ignatik in a live singles match.

Horna has had some problems with his back, but he wouldn't miss this unless he couldn't walk and Mirnyi has been suffering from very poor form lately. Max has a 3-0 lead over Horna in their matches, but none of them have been in South America and Lucho finally beat him in a qualie match in one of the TMS events. He just has to stay calm and pin Max on the baseline in his service games and then watch the ball and not the man at the net. Not sure about this one, but it would be great if Peru could make the World Group, need to see some other countries there.

WG Playoffs Part 2: The Czechs, Brits, Swiss and Romania

GB vs. Croatia

The Brits are the favourites for this tie considering what they could have been facing. This is a depleted Croatian team guys like Ancic missing cause of a shoulder problem and Karlovic still seething over the shabby treatment he received in 2005 when it came to finances and pulled the plug when his team needed him this time around. The Croats have big Ljubo who basically won the DC for Croatia in 2005 with his strong performances throughout the year and the talented youngster Marin Cilic who has already played a DC tie and it will be tough on the grass this is for sure.

Henman in his last Davis Cup tie will want to go out on a high and Andy Murray will want to salvage something from a difficult season and both are better on the grass surface than the Croats, though some rumours are flying around that this could be moved indoors and we know that big Ljubo would rather that than on the grass, where his poor returning can get exposed. If they play on grass, it will be interesting to see and the Croats have to be at 1-1 to at the end of Day 1 to have any chance of preserving their status in the World Group, that was a very profound statement for sure. I think the Brits will win if it's outdoors, if there is a roof, then Croats chances are much higher. We do know Henman has had some big chokes at Wimbledon before.

Czech Republic v Switzerland

This tie will be held indoors on a fast surface and the teams are quite evenly matched and if a couple of players one each on both sides played in their 1st round ties, then they wouldn't be in the position of fighting for World Group status, yes this means Federer and Stepanek especially. They had their reasons no doubt, but that's for another time.

The Swiss have Federer, Wawrinka, Allegro and Chiudinelli. The Czechs have Berdych, Stepanek, Dlouhy and Damm in their team more than likely.

This tie is actually more interesting that the WG semi finals in a lot of ways and the doubles will be key. Stepanek and Federer will be starting off this time around and Federer has said that "Thunder Lips" can be a bit annoying with the antics, but he will need to be vigilant as Stepanek while having a poor DC record, enjoys the low bouncing fast carpet surface and will use his variation and antics to try and upset Federer who has lost a DC match since 2003 against Hewitt, but then again he has probably played 3 of them. Berdych will need to put the Ostrava nightmare behind him losing to Roddick on clay and he loves playing indoors and Stani Wawrinka is no easy match either way and how Stepanek plays as much as the previous result could impact on how Berdych plays against Wawrinka. He could relish the challenge and turn on a good show or he could freeze and then the Czechs be down 0-2.

Personally I'd like to see the Czechs win, mainly cause the Federer superman come to save the Swiss World Group status is a bit much and it would be good to see that get punished, but the feeling is here that they will get the job done, though it would be good to see Berdych play a blinder and liven things up.

Romania, even though they are away from home, they should be too strong for the Japanese, though Suzuki can definitely cause some problems with his kamikaze game and has to many players, even though he is on the decline.

Slovakia have a very young team and the Koreans have the veteran Lee and not much else to back him up. I think the Slovaks will get the job done and Miloslav Mecir should come out of the retirement and play in the singles.

Monday, September 10, 2007

Bizarre Bucharest in the honour of such legends as Richard Fromberg, Joan Balcells and Franco Davin. This is the end of the clay season

Yes, the crazy event of Bucharest where seeded players never win or haven't won the event since the Muster days. There have been some great winners of this event aka Franco Davin, Richard Fromberg, David "Pics" Ferrer and Jose Acasuso spring to mind and they weren't seeded at all.

Monfils asked for a WC, but that was reserved for local heroes Pavel, Lurch Hanescu and Santoro, this was a good choice and also Monfils needed the match practice and he got that and made the main draw and should cause some problems to any of the players he faces.

Fat Albert Montañes and Che Vassallo Arguello have already made the second round with wins over Devilder who struggles to win at main tour level and Eschauer respectively and this is the big career year for Werner, but in all likelihood, there will be a huge fall in the ranking.

Last clay event of the year sadly and there will be many players who need to do well here before they move onto their weaker surfaces like Starace, Roitman and the King who has a tough match against local Pavel and will be on centre court for sure.

Bad day for the Aussies and the battle between Luczak and "Ronald McDonald" Guccione for the last Davis Cup spot, well isn't clearer now as both of them lost today to Andreev and Navarro Pastor respectively. Luczak lost to one of the best players in this event in a tight 3 setter, but he needed to play a bit above himself to take out Andreev and losing 6-4 in the 3rd is respectable, though having a 30-0 lead in the 10th game on serve has to hurt a bit. As for the Gooch, he isn't in great form at the moment, but I think he will get the nod, more in the DC preview next week.

Blogger favourite Seppi won a wonderfully entertaining match which you wouldn't say was serve dominated 4-6 7-5 6-4. The first set there were around 6 consecutive breaks of serve, uintil Melzer decided to hold in the 10th game.

The second set, something happened and they held serve all the way to the last game and then Seppi broke to love.

Seppi gets the break then at 4-2, Melzer restarts the breakathon and it continued all the way through to the end, where Seppi breaks serve for the match after failing to serve it out to 6-4