Despite the criticisms it takes for its format, scheduling, etc. Davis Cup remains a test and proving ground for players who are otherwise ignored on the tour as you often see them playing well above their level when competing for their country, while others fold under the pressure. We saw both yesterday.
Spartan Stan disappointed himself and his huge audience yesterday in Geneva, Switzerland. Before 16,000 screaming Swiss, who cheered the new Australian Open champion wildly when coming out, Stan looked quite nervous at times, quite frustrated at other times, even breaking his racquet, and just seemed uncomfortable in his current role of Swiss #1 and lost to a very strong and steady #161 in the world, Andrey Golubev, who really played better than I've ever seen him play. On a medium pace indoor court with Wilson Australian Open balls (tend to slow after a couple of games), Stan committed a whopping 70 unforced errors and 55 winners as opposed to Golubev's 45 UE's and 50 winners. But this picture of Federer watching his countryman tells the whole story:
Sometimes the expectations of fans, fellow players, and themselves can just overwhelm a player. Stan needs to relax, needs to use the crowd in a good way, not be so anxious to win points too soon. His serve was pretty good after the 2nd set. He should build on that. It's a mental thing now. He knows he is good enough, but sometimes that can work against you and make you more frustrated than you should be. He needs to just focus on his game, stop bickering and complaining with his captain and go to that calm place in his mind that his main tour coach Magnus Norman helped to solidify. Stan needs to take some pressure off himself, as he himself has recognized that this might be the Swiss team's best chance for a Davis Cup win, but he needs to focus on one match at a time.
If the Swiss lose again, you can't help but feel for Roger Federer, who has had the improbable task over the years of trying to carry the team on his shoulders to get that Davis Cup win. One cannot win Davis Cup by oneself, no matter how good one is. The team has to contribute. Stan has clearly not done as well in the past as his ranking would indicate, as nerves have often unsettled him, but here is his chance to again prove his mettle in a different setting. Let's see what happens and hope he can deliver his best tennis.
Current Swiss #2, Roger Federer, showed Stan the way. Federer played solidly and calmly against a very good Kukushkin. If Federer had slipped at all, Kukushkin could have also proved a problem as he was defending very, very, well, but Federer used his variety very well, as well as his serve, where Kukushkin could never make any inroads with 0 break points, and often love service games for Federer. Kukushkin was in trouble almost every one of his service games, but valiantly pulled many of them out at the last moment with his strong defense. The difference in mentality between Roger and Stan was evident. Federer rarely displayed any reaction, was calm sitting on his bench and often his and Davis Cup coach Severin Luthi didn't even talk or sit with him during changeovers.
The Brits have their work cut out for them in their tie with the Italians. Fabio Fognini showed up to play despite being heavily taped up for his rib injury. After a lengthy rain delay in his country's city of Naples, he beat James Ward in 4 sets and started off the Italian fans in delight. Andy Murray, OBE, came out second to play the Italian #2, Andreas Seppi, who can be formidable on clay. We saw a couple of years ago how he just failed to beat Djokovic at Roland Garros. The Naples clay itself was rough from the rain and clumped in spots well behind the court making a bit dangerous to play in the back. Andy took the first set with solid play and a break. Seppi played stronger in the second set, and drew first blood with a break to go up 4-2, but Murray came right back with his own break. Seppi had set points with Murray serving at 4-5, but Murray saved them to draw level at 5-5 where the match was stopped due to darkness. It will resume today in a couple of hours. I believe Andy needs to calm down a bit, his complaining and ranting attitude is going back to pre-Lendl times.
Assuming Murray beats Seppi to draw level at 1-1, the task for both Italy and Great Britain is clear. Win the all important doubles. Therefore I think you'll see both teams put their best doubles players out there unless they are really hurting. So Murray will have to finish his singles and then probably play doubles with Colin Fleming. My guess is that the Italians will send Fognini out to play with Bolelli, but it's possible Seppi might play if he is not too tired. Both Fognini and Seppi are ranked pretty high in doubles, 68 and 51, whereas the others are over 200.
The singles match will be completed first at 9:30 GMT, 10:30 am Italian time.
The Czech Republic has blanked Japan 3-0 thanks to Stepanek and Rosol who just won the doubles today. The Japanese were without their two best players, Nishikori and Go Saeda who are injured.
The French just couldn't do it against the injured German team who is playing without Haas, Kohlschreiber, and Mayer. #96 Tobias Kamke beat #50 Julien Benneteau, who caved in, losing in straight sets, and then in the shocker of the day, #119 Peter Gojowczyk upset #12 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in a real battle, 7-5 6-7(3) 6-3 6-7( 8 ) 6-8 saving 2 match points. Tsonga's comment after the match tells it all:
"It's clear that this was one of those matches one can classify as unlosable and yet I lost it", said a very disconsolate Tsonga. Tsonga played much better than he has been, as he discarded the new racquet he has been playing with this year, and returned to his old stick, but it didn't help enough as Gojowczyk played out of his mind. But he is a interesting character. Remember he was the one who made it to the Doha semifinals this year, and gave Rafa an unexpected battle, taking the first set, before Rafa came back to win it.
The remainder of the doubles matches will be played just a bit later today! The French absolutely need it to stay in the tie, with favored Llodra/Monfils expected to do the job over Kamke/Begemann. The Swiss aren't quite sure yet who will play with the tie all square with KazakhSTAN, but I'm guessing it will be Federer/Wawrinka, unless Wawrinka is hurting, and I already mentioned the Italians and Brits lineups.
Good luck to all the remaining teams in their ties!
Davis Cup Great Britain vs. Italy at the Tennis Club Napoli, Naples, Italy Beautiful, looks a bit like the Monte Carlo setting.
Respectfully,
masterclass
