Davis Cup Quarterfinals

Congratulations to Russia, Argentina, Spain, and the United States for their World Group Quarterfinal victories this past weekened.

All four teams advice to the semifinals in September, where Argentina will take on Russia and the United States will take on Spain.

USA v France:

Friday

Andy Roddick (USA - 6th ranked) def Michael Llodra (FRA - ranked 41): 6-4 7-6(3) 7-6(5)

James Blake (USA - 8th ranked) v Paul-Henri Mathieu (FRA - 12th ranked): 7-6(5) 6-7(3) 6-3 3-6 7-5


Saturday

Arnaud Clement (ranked 70) /Michael Llodra (FRA) def Bob Bryan/Mike Bryan (USA): 6-7(7) 7-5 6-3 6-4


Sunday

Andy Roddick (USA) def Paul-Henri Mathieu (FRA): 6-2 6-3 6-2

James Blake (USA) def Richard Gasquet (FRA - ranked 10th): 6-7(4) 6-4 6-4

Technorati Tags: tennis

Davis Cup Quarterfinal: The United States v France

What a shame. In true Mohammed-Ali style, 13th-ranked Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France fired up the Davis Cup tie between the United States and France with some good, old fashioned jive about us Americans "fearing" the French.

Now he has gone home with a knee injury the French Tennis Federation announced yesterday.

That wasn't really such a blow, as Tsonga's runner-up finish at the Australian Open is his only great achievement to date. But he was arguably France's best chance in singles on a fast court.

Tsonga was replaced with Arnaud Clement, and at that point, the best guess was that France would have Richard Gasquet and Paul-Henri Mathieu play singles with Clement and Michael Llodra teaming up to play doubles.

But now 8th-ranked Richard Gasquet has blisters, so he's out too.

The quarterfinal tie begins Friday and runs to Sunday in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Here's the lineup as it now stands:

Friday
Andy Roddick (USA - 6th ranked) v Michael Llodra (FRA - ranked 41)
James Blake (USA - 8th ranked) v Paul-Henri Mathieu (FRA - 12th ranked)

Saturday
Bob Bryan/Mike Bryan (USA) v Arnaud Clement (ranked 70) /Michael Llodra (FRA)

Sunday
Andy Roddick (USA) v Paul-Henri Mathieu (FRA)
James Blake (USA) v Michael Llodra (FRA)

See also:
"The Americans will fear us."
Davis Cup Dialog

Technorati Tags: tennis

Davis Cup Roster

The Davis Cup quarterfinal tie between the United States and France will take place April 11-13 at the Joel Coliseum in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

The French Davis Cup captain, Guy Forget, has announced his roster:
Richard Gasquet
Paul-Henri Mathieu (either singles or doubles)
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga
Michael Llodra (doubles for sure)

Mathieu replaces Arnaud Clement, who was on the French squad that beat host Romania, 5-0, in the Davis Cup opening round in February.

The American Davis Cup captain, Patrick McEnroe, will use the same lineup that won the Davis Cup last year:

No. 1 singles starter Andy Roddick
No. 2 singles starter James Blake
Doubles players Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan

Technorati Tags: tennis

Davis Cup Dialog

I was actually hoping some French blogger (whose English is much better than my French) would take up the gauntlet I threw down yesterday.

Come on, this ketchup loving hamberger monkey can take it. How about a little of that "dialog"?

(We can't leave it to Andy Roddick. He has no sense of humor.)

CLICK

Arise, children of the Motherland,
The day of glory has arrived!
Against us, tyranny's
Bloody banner is raised.
Bloody banner is raised.
Do you hear in the countryside
The braying of these ferocious soldiers?
They are coming into our midst
To cut the throats of our sons, our wives!

To arms, citizens!
Form your battalions!
March, march!
May their filthy blood
Water our fields!
To arms, citizens!
Let us form our battalions!
Let us march, let us march!
May their filthy blood
Water our fields!

Sacred patriotic love,
Lead and support our avenging arms
Liberty, cherished liberty,
Fight back with your defenders!
Fight back with your defenders!
Under our flags, let victory
Hurry to your manly tone,
So that our enemies, in their last breath,
See your triumph and our glory!

Technorati Tags: tennis

"The Americans will fear us."

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga really said that, in reference to the upcoming Davis Cup tie here next month between the United States and France.

Oooh, la la. This could be fun.

FEAR??? FEAR???

Ha! CLICK.

You asked for it!



And unless you really wanna ruin your day...

DON'T CLICK THIS LINK!

Note: The first time through the video, the sound might not be in sync, but once the sound all loads, you can replay to hear and see it right.

Technorati Tags: tennis

The US Davis Cup team

These fellows are all team players. Maybe not Andy Roddick so much, but the Bryans and James Blake love team play and know what it's all about. You can count on them. They come through for their team when they'd normally lose for themselves.

Because when the going gets tough, you disregard your feelings and push through for the team. There's nothing more rewarding than being part of something greater than the sum of its parts.

Technorati Tags: tennis

Bob & Mike: “They are just much better doubles players.”

Bob and Mike Bryan clinched the Davis Cup for the United States on Saturday with a win over the Russian team of Nikolay Davydenko and Igor Andreev, 7-6 (4), 6-4, 6-2. And Andreyev summed it up by saying, "They are just much better doubles players."

This is a sweet end to a year in which no American man has made it to grand slam final.

The win in the doubles put the score of the tie at 3-0, setting up the "dead" rubbers played on Sunday. They were shortened to best-of-three set matches, because they could not effect the outcome.

Igor Andreev earned Russia a consolation point by beating Bob Bryan 6-3 7-6, and James Blake beat Dmitry Tursunov 1-6 6-3 7-5, pushing the final score to the United States 4, Russia 1.

Technorati Tags: tennis

Davis Cup Drama

James Blake being a little blunt with press yesterday:

I wanted to play my best and be strong enough mentally and not have these people make kind of ridiculous questions about whether a top 10 player or a singles player on a Davis Cup finals team is mentally tough or not, because you don't get here without being mentally tough.

But, come on, James. They MUST resort to fiction, because they have ads to sell, names to make for themselves. It all started with "60 Minutes." You know - revolutionizing the "news reports" to make "stories" out of them. You know, the "human interest" angle. It ain't the news anymore: it's telling people what they want to hear, something juicy. No matter how ridiculously you have to exaggerate or distort the facts to make something out of nothing.

This press conference shows us that the press makes a federal case out it every time a player loses a game at 5-4. That's "blowing it" according to them. Ominous. A sign of mental weakness. (Gasp!) (Organ music.)

Blake again:

It was a style that lost me that game at 5-4, but it was a style that got me the win.

Yes, birdbrains. It's a game of odds. Blake is going to miss sometimes with his style. Whether the score is 5-4 or 4-5. But he is going to win more than he loses that way. Too complex?

I wish the press would just let reality be what it is.

They aren't even interested in anything but artificially created drama anymore. Kinda like a White House press briefing. Not interested in any of the real news or getting information. Just all digging, digging, digging for something juicy to make out of nothing.

Technorati Tags: tennis

Hooray!

By now you probably know that the score is the United States 2, Russia 0 in the Davis Cup Final. Andy Roddick beat Dimitry Tursinov yesterday, and James Blake beat Mikhail Youzhny today.

We'll probably never hear the end of Russian captain Shamil Tarpischev's decision to hold Nikolay Davydenko out of the singles. At Number 4 in the world, he ranks higher than Roddick (at No. 6).

Who knows? Hindsight is 20-20, and Tarpischev has lead the Russians to victory before. He seemed to think that Davydenko couldn't beat Roddick, despite having a good track record against him.

But again, who knows enough to second-guess him? Maybe these match-fixing allegations have gotten to Davydenko. (Or maybe they know he's done it and fear he would do it in Portland.)

I don't know. But Tarpishchev's remarks sounded a bit defeatist to me. It's almost like he's just trying to make sure they don't get skunked.

Which has me scratching my head. You have to consider us the favorite, but not by much, and anything can happen in Davis Cup play. So, go figure. All I know is that you're not going to win with an attitude like that.

Good luck to the Bryan brothers tomorrow. They've been looking forward to this for a long time.

Technorati Tags: tennis