MIA for Davis Cup First Round
When the Davis Cup draw was announced a couple months ago, there was such excitement regarding several of the first round pairings. As the weekend nears for the first round match-ups, most of the highly-anticipated encounters will not take place due to injuries.
Regardless, there will still be a lot of intrigue and national pride at stake when the players face off starting on Friday.
In Logrono, Spain, neither Rafael Nadal nor Roger Federer will take part due to Nadal’s knee problems and Federer’s decision to sit out the Tie. Nonetheless, the “second-string” Spanish team of David Ferrer, Nicolas Almagro and Tommy Robredo will face off against the Swiss team led by new father, Stan Wawrinka. In Toulon, France, 2010 Australian Open semifinalist, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, will lead the French team alongside Gael Monfils against the Germans. In Stockholm, Robin Soderling will lead the Swedes against an injury-depleted Argentine playing without Juan Martin del Potro (wrist) and Juan Monaco (abdominal) and with David Nalbandian (recovered from his leg injury) flying in at the last minute to play doubles and possibly the final singles, if necessary.... The United States team featuring the “new breed” of American Davis Cup players, i.e. Sam Querrey and John Isner, will travel to Serbia to face Novak Djokovic and thousands of screaming Serbian fans while Andy Roddick and James Blake sit out the Tie. Croatia will feature its “big guns” when 2010 Australian Open semifinalist, Marin Cilic, and 6’ 10’’ Ivo Karlovic take on the Lapentti brothers, Nicolas and Giovanni, from Ecuador. The Russian team lacking Nikolay Davydenko (wrist injury) will now start Igor Andreev and Mikhail Youzhny against an Indian team featuring younger players in singles and the legendary doubles tandem, Leader Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi reunited for Davis Cup. Belgium featuring Olivier Rochus and Xavier Malisse, will host the 2009 finalists, the Czech Republic team of Radek Stepanek and Tomas Berdych. Finally, in the wake of the earthquake in Chile, the Davis Cup Tie between Chile and Israel, being played in Chile, will now start on Saturday.
In the end, the focus may now be more on the countries than on the individual tennis superstars due to the absence of several top singles players. For Davis Cup, this is really “as it should be”... Here’s to some hard-fought Davis Cup Ties featuring lots of national pride!
In Logrono, Spain, neither Rafael Nadal nor Roger Federer will take part due to Nadal’s knee problems and Federer’s decision to sit out the Tie. Nonetheless, the “second-string” Spanish team of David Ferrer, Nicolas Almagro and Tommy Robredo will face off against the Swiss team led by new father, Stan Wawrinka. In Toulon, France, 2010 Australian Open semifinalist, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, will lead the French team alongside Gael Monfils against the Germans. In Stockholm, Robin Soderling will lead the Swedes against an injury-depleted Argentine playing without Juan Martin del Potro (wrist) and Juan Monaco (abdominal) and with David Nalbandian (recovered from his leg injury) flying in at the last minute to play doubles and possibly the final singles, if necessary.... The United States team featuring the “new breed” of American Davis Cup players, i.e. Sam Querrey and John Isner, will travel to Serbia to face Novak Djokovic and thousands of screaming Serbian fans while Andy Roddick and James Blake sit out the Tie. Croatia will feature its “big guns” when 2010 Australian Open semifinalist, Marin Cilic, and 6’ 10’’ Ivo Karlovic take on the Lapentti brothers, Nicolas and Giovanni, from Ecuador. The Russian team lacking Nikolay Davydenko (wrist injury) will now start Igor Andreev and Mikhail Youzhny against an Indian team featuring younger players in singles and the legendary doubles tandem, Leader Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi reunited for Davis Cup. Belgium featuring Olivier Rochus and Xavier Malisse, will host the 2009 finalists, the Czech Republic team of Radek Stepanek and Tomas Berdych. Finally, in the wake of the earthquake in Chile, the Davis Cup Tie between Chile and Israel, being played in Chile, will now start on Saturday.
In the end, the focus may now be more on the countries than on the individual tennis superstars due to the absence of several top singles players. For Davis Cup, this is really “as it should be”... Here’s to some hard-fought Davis Cup Ties featuring lots of national pride!
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