Across The Net 12.03.07: The U.S. Takes the Davis Cup

Posted by Dan Martin on 12.03.2007

For the first time in 12 years, the U.S. holds the Davis Cup trophy. James Blake, the Bryan Twins and “Quarterback” Andy Roddick each posted important victories. What does this mean for each man? I give my thoughts on this matter inside.

Players of the Week:

Andy Roddick, James Blake, Bob Bryan, Mike Bryan and Patrick McEnroe each receive player of the week honors. Roddick has been a constant for the U.S. Davis Cup team and is the most devoted Davis Cup player for the U.S. since John McEnroe. James Blake struggled through parts of 2007 but can end the year on the highest note of his career. Bob and Mike Bryan are the #1 doubles team in the world and give the U.S. team a nice opportunity to collect the doubles point in any Davis Cup encounter. This unit played well and avoided any serious clay court tests en route to the title.

Be Happy for Patrick McEnroe

Patrick McEnroe became captain after his older brother John McEnroe lasted only 1 year as Davis Cup captain. John lobbied for the Davis Cup job for years, but lasted only 1 year due in part to his inability to convince Sampras and Agassi to commit to the team. John is a fiery genius who collected almost infinitely more tennis success than his brother Patrick who has one French Open doubles title and one Australian Open semifinal to his name. Still, Patrick who has coached the U.S. Davis Cup team since 2001 has proven his steady approach and ability to build a team to be more durable than that of a temperamental genius. John quit as coach shortly after he lost the team. In a second round encounter, John McEnroe tried to be a bit too much Bobby Knight and berated Pete Sampras after losing a singles match. Sampras came back and won the second match sending the U.S. into the semifinals, but both Sampras and Andre Agassi agreed to not play for the angry McEnroe. The cool headed Patrick McEnroe has convinced the top players from the U.S. to play Davis Cup and created a strong network between these players. One can only assume that Donald Young, Sam Querrey and John Isner will also be courted by Patrick McEnroe when the time is right.

The Matches to go up 3-0

Andy Roddick beat Dmitry Tursunov 6-4, 6-4, 6-2 in a surgical victory. Roddick should defeat Tursunov on any surface other than clay. On a fast indoor surface, Roddick ought to beat everyone other than 2 or 3 players in the world. Needless to say, as good as Tursunov is, he is not among the players that can really threaten Roddick on a fast indoor court. Roddick is the team leader and such a confident victory set a tone for the following matches.

Mikhail Youzhny was playing like a top 10 player in 2007 prior to his injuries at Wimbledon. Youzhny is a talented and versatile player who I thought had a better than 50% chance for defeating Blake even in hostile territory. James Blake raced out to a two set lead, but Youzhny battled back taking the 3rd set. Finally, Blake won a 4th set tie breaker and put the U.S. ahead of Russia 2-0. Blake's 6-3, 7-6, 6-7, 7-6 victory could have gone either way and was the key victory from a momentum standpoint. Had Youzhny come back and won from 2 sets down, the entire weekend could have gone differently. Instead the U.S. strode out to a nearly insurmountable 2-0 lead.

The Bryan Twins defeated Igor Andreev and Nikolay Davydenko 7-6, 6-4, 6-2 to clinch the title. Davis Cup is one of the few venues where doubles is on equal footing with singles. The Bryans have won many Grand Slam titles, but had their career run its course with no Davis Cup title critics might have asked a few questions. In doubles, age is not nearly the factor it is in singles, but each Bryan twin is over 30 years old now and this may be the high point of their careers.

What Does this Mean for Blake and Roddick

Andy Roddick ended 2007 with drubbings at the hands of Roger Federer and David Ferrer. James Blake's 2007 saw his 2005 and 2006 form dip. Each man can enter 2008 with less weight on their shoulders. Roddick has wanted to win Davis Cup since attending the 1992 U.S. victory over Switzerland. Rumors of a split between Roddick and Jimmy Connors will likely either be proven true or evaporate prior to the Australian Open. Much of Roddick's poor form from August 2005 – July 2006 was to my mind caused by Federer fatigue. Losing to lesser players in earlier rounds became more palatable to Roddick than constantly being beaten by Federer in big situations. Connors cured him of this fatigue to an extent, but under Connors Roddick is 0-5 vs. Federer with 3 losses in Grand Slam play and 2 losses in Masters Cup play. In fact, Roddick has won a total of 2 sets to Federer's 13 sets. It would be natural to be fatigued, but Connors may not really accept that realization. With Roddick sitting at #6 in the world rankings, it is unclear if he can continue to contend for the biggest prizes as he moves into his later 20's. This victory could go a long way toward restoring some of Roddick's confidence and purpose on tour.

James Blake's 2008 is less certain. When playing well Blake can humiliate even great players. His devil may care attitude however does not translate into great results. Going for low percentage shots over and over again inevitably leads to bad losses. Blake got outgunned by a fellow shot maker in Fernando Gonzalez in Australia. He lost a bad match to Ivo Karlovic at the French Open in the first round and finished 2007 0-3 vs. Karlovic. Blake losses to Juan Carlos Ferrero on grass at Wimbledon and Tommy Haas at the U.S. Open were not bad losses, but Blake failed to reach even one Grand Slam quarterfinal in 2007. Maybe 2008 will see Blake overcome his inconsistency, but as he ages it seems as though going for broke on most shots is not going to lead Blake to big prizes. Therefore, Davis Cup 2007 finished well for him. Had he lost to Youzhny only to see the Bryans and Roddick claim the needed points, Blake would have been a minor partner in the venture. This way he was an equal contributor. I do hope he has a good 2008, but I cannot see Blake climbing the heights that he did in 2006.

Last Thoughts on the Sampras-Federer Exhibitions

I finally did see extended clips of these three matches on Youtube. After seeing the action, I apologize to my readers for discussing the matches at the length I did. Neither player was in "match mode" or whatever other description could be applied. Both champions played quickly, served quickly, smiled a lot and joked around throughout the three matches. This does not mean that each man did not hit nice shots, but neither man played with the deliberation, purpose or under the pressure of a regular match. The matches were a good chance to gather attention for tennis and promote the sport, but as a tennis junkie I found the level of intensity to be disappointing to say the least. Such matches might be good at getting people interested in tennis, but tour matches are a real product that can keep the interest of fans. It is hard for me to go from watching two guys on an outer court in Cincinnati absolutely killing themselves in heat and humidity that makes me as a spectator uncomfortable, fighting for rankings points and money to watching two great champions basically messing around. Now if Sampras and Federer each put up say five million of their own money in a winner take all prize fight of sorts then it would be interesting to me, but what I saw was more or less a farce unless it was taken solely as three events intended to draw some interest in the sport and nothing more.