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Week 6 Preview: Costa do Sauipe, Delray Beach, Marseille

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Costa do Sauipe (Brasil Open)

As expected, the only ATP tournament played in Brazil is full of clay court specialists. Carlos Moya comes back to play there after missing it last year; he is the top seed. He has an interesting first round match against Santiago Ventura, but he’s the favorite to go through to the second round. Agustin Calleri is in his quarter and that should be a great match if both get that far, though the Argentine would have to beat tough guys like Sergio Rotiman and Pablo Cuevas. In the second quarter, Igor Andreev is by far the biggest favorite even though Jose Acasuso’s in the same section. Two Brazilians are also in that same quarter with tough first round matches. Marcos Daniel faces Peter Luczak, who’s played a semifinal at the Brasil Open before and Bellucci faces Nicolas Lapentti.
In the third quarter, Potito Starace’s back after his ban for betting on tennis matches. In the same quarter, we’d have to mention both Fabio Fognini and Gustavo Kuerten, who will open against Carlos Berlocq. In the last quarter, the favorites are second seed Nicolas Almagro, who has a good draw, and Filippo Volandri; both of these players really good on clay. Nicolas Massu and Guillermo Coria are both in this quarter as well.
This year’s tournament should be really interesting, considering it will be the last time the three-time Roland Garros Champion Gustavo Kuerten plays the tournament in his own country. It’s also important to remember that the tournament might be played in another city (São Paulo) in 2009, so it might be the last year for the event in Costa do Sauipe. Also, none of last year’s semifinalists are playing at ths year’s event.
Delray Beach

While Delray Beach is typically the week right after the Australian Open, it was pushed back two weeks this year and instead follows the First Round Davis Cup ties; in fact, the draw is full of players who will be arriving from all corners of the globe.
Headliner and top seed James Blake is already on his way from Austria and will arrive home in Florida to see quite an easy draw. He opens against compatriot Robert Kendrick, but despite the inevitable jetlag, it’s hard to see him not coming through this section of the draw.
In the second quarter, although Dudi Sela is the highest-ranked player and #4 seed, he will be coming off a disappointing Davis Cup tie in Israel and faces potentially formidable competition in Robby Ginepri (if he’s healthy from the neck/back problems that plagued him during the Australian season) and #8 seed Mardy Fish (if he brings his brain down to Delray Beach).
The third quarter of the draw is led by American seeds Sam Querrey and Vince Spadea. It’s likely that the two will play each other in the Quarterfinals.
The fourth quarter is probably the most interesting. Tommy Haas is the #2 seed and makes his first appearance of 2008 after missing the entire Australian season due to his recovery from another shoulder injury. Whether he is 100% fit to play and fully recovered remains to be seen. If he wins, he could face another interesting story in defending champion Xavier Malisse, still coming back from injury after missing most of last year, who has had great success in Delray Beach in years’ past – it is where he was finally able to claim his first ATP Title in 2005 after a dismal record in finals. Malisse has also played two other finals in Delray and has won the doubles title. Florian Mayer will be coming from Davis Cup duties in Germany, giving rising American Donald Young a chance to finally make a splash in an ATP tournament.
Marseille

Marseille is by far the strongest event of the week, featuring more prize money and a field that includes three top 10 players in Novak Djokovic, Richard Gasquet, and new top 10er Mikhail Youzhny, all coming off of Davis Cup play this weekend.
Novak Djokovic heads the draw but his fitness is in question after retiring in today’s Davis Cup match. If Djokovic is fit, he should make the quarters where he would face the always tough Paul-Henri Mathieu in a very intriguing match. This little section also contains tough Frenchmen Michael Llodra, Marc Gicquel, and defending champion Gilles Simon. In the second quarter, Andy Murray returns after leaving his country high and dry in Argentina due to a “knee injury.” Also in this quarter, 2007 Brazil Open runner-up Juan Carlos Ferrero makes an interesting decision to play indoors instead of in Brasil on his beloved clay, and more tough Frenchmen including Nicolas Mahut and Sebastien Grosjean could be dangerous.
The third quarter of the draw is full of good players and potential title threats. Defending finalist Marcos Baghdatis, whose coach stepped down last week, faces a difficult second round match between either Ivo Karlovic and Feliciano Lopez, which should be an exciting encounter (not). Should Baghdatis make it through to the quarterfinals, he will likely face Youzhny in a rematch of an excellent quarterfinal match at this event last year. However, Youzhny has a tough opener in rising Croatian Marin Cilic, who has posted excellent results this year.
The stars of the fourth quarter are France’s top 2 players – Richard Gasquet and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga who will be looking to meet in the quarterfinals, which would be an interesting rematch of their Australian Open Round of 16 match and quite a big deal in France. But first, Tsonga must get past Mario Ancic, a former top player who is trying to come back from various ilnesses and injuries. Also in this quarter, Robin Soderling returns to the tour after an extended injury break. Soderling will open against tough Fin Jarkko Nieminen, a semifinalist here last year.

Davis Cup Roundup: First Round Day 3, February 10

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Jonas Bjorkman

Russia vs Serbia
As we expected, Novak Djokovic attempted to play for Serbia to keep their hopes alive. Despite Djokovic not being 100% fit, Nikolay Davydenko played even worse and Djokovic was able to build a 2 sets lead and had 3-0 double break in the third set. Davydenko lifted his level of play in the third set, hitting 17 of his 26 winners in this set alone, but Djokovic still had 4*-3 40-0 when he threw in two double faults to give up all advantage. Davydenko was able to eke out the third set and Djokovic retired, exhausted and dizzy, thus handing the tie to the Russians. In the final meaningless dead rubber, Viktor Troicki, who acquitted himself so well in Friday’s match against Davydenko, produced a three-set upset of Dmitry Tursunov to leave the final score of the tie at 3-2.
Israel vs Sweden
In the first match between Dudi Sela and Thomas Johansson, Sela was trying to produce one more great result for his country and Thomas Johansson was trying to keep his team alive. The first set was a long and difficult one, with each player having multiple break points that neither could convert. Finally, Sela broke and served for the set at 5-3 but was broken to love. After an hour and a half or so of play and a see-saw tiebreaker, Johansson was able to eke out the first set. After an easy second set, Johansson built up a 3-0 double break in the third set but lost four games in a row. After saving a 0-40 game serving at 3-4, Johansson was able to break Sela in the 11th game of the set and serve it out easily for a tough straight sets win. Johansson was thus able to keep Sweden alive and send the weekend’s only tie to a live fifth rubber, much to the dismay of the boisterous Israeli crowd.
So to the weekend’s only live fifth rubber in World Group play, which pitted Jonas Bjorkman against Harel Levy. Levy got off to a tremendous start (probably more accurate to say Bjorkman got off to an abysmal one) by bageling Bjorkman, but Bjorkman came storming back, saved some break points in the second set and won it despite losing more points. In the fourth set, Levy had an early break and barely managed to hold onto his serve until serving for the set at 5-4 when Bjorkman finally reclaimed the break on a Levy doublefault and ultimately won a tight tiebreaker in the fourth. So, Bjorkman was able to complete Sweden’s stunning comeback ending in a 3-2 victory. And their prize is going to Argentina for the quarters…
Germany vs Korea
The only other live tie on Sunday saw Germany trying to wrap up a victory over Korea. Philipp Kohlschreiber played Hyung-Taik Lee in the first match. Kohlschreiber got off to an excellent start, handing Lee a bagel, and then got a little lazy in the second set, which Lee won after saving some break points when he tried to close it out. Kohlschreiber recovered and managed to take the next two sets, including a difficult and tight fourth set, to wrap up a 4-set win and Germany’s victory. In the final dead rubber, unknown Woong-Sun Jun upset Michael Berrer in three sets to finish the tie with a 3-2 score for the Germans.
Other Ties
No real need to talk in-depth about the ties that were completed yesterday after the doubles. In the Czech Republic, Belgians Steve Darcis and unknown Ruben Bemelmans were able to restore a bit of pride for Belgium, winning both the dead rubbers (the 2nd when Pavel Vizner retired), for a final score of 3-2 for the Czechs. Argentina ended up with a 4-1 victory after Jamie Baker somehow beat good claycourter Agustin Calleri in straight sets. So at least Great Britain can leave with a bit of pride after an otherwise painful weekend. In Peru, Spain completed its 5-1 whitewash over Peru with two straight-sets wins today. France also completed its 5-0 win over Romania with two wins from Michael Llodra and Arnaud Clement.
Finally, the US ended up with a 4-1 victory in Austria. While America’s top two stars curiously and inexplicably left Vienna early Sunday morning to head back to the US, twin doubles stars Bob and Mike Bryan were left to complete the dead rubbers. Though Mike had not played a singles match in years and was in his Davis Cup singles debut, he acquitted himself quite well against Stefan Koubek until he suffered a hamstring strain and retired early in the 2nd set. In perhaps the most laughable result of the day, Bob Bryan slip-slided around the clay using his aggressive serve and forehand and wonderful volleys to beat Werner Eschauer in three sets (including a bagel in the first).
Zonal Group I Ties
Of course, this weekend saw many of the Zonal groups play. While the higher-ranked countries there have byes, a few notable countries were playing for the right to move to April’s 2nd round (with the winners there given a chance to play in September’s World Group playoffs against the World Group 1st round losers from this weekend – yes, we know it’s confusing). Anyway, in the Europe/Africa Zone, both Macedonia and Switzerland wrapped up their ties with comfortable victories. In the America’s Zone I, Canada wrapped up an easy victory over Mexico, despite playing without top player Frank Dancevic, and will play undesirable foe Chile in April.
In the tightest tie in zonal play, Colombia and Uruguay competed for the right to play Brasil in April. In a rain-affected tie, Uruguayan Cuevas played a heroic 10 sets on Saturday to give his team a 2-1 lead, including the doubles match ending at 8-6 in the fifth. Understandably, this monumental effort took a lot out of Cuevas, and he lost in three easy sets on Sunday to Alejandro Falla, who was able to send the tie to a live fifth rubber, won by Colombia’s Santiago Giraldo, unfortunately leaving Cuevas’s herculean effort all for naught. Finally, in the Asia/Oceania Zone I play, Australia wrapped up an easy 4-1 win over Chinese Taipei behind two wins from Lleyton Hewitt, Japan wrapped up a 5-0 victory over the Philippines, and Thailand and India each wrapped up 3-2 victories.
World Group Quarterfinal Preview
So, the Quarterfinals are now set. At the top of the draw, Russia will have the home advantage over the Czech Republic, which should be an interesting tie assuming both countries’ top players show up. The Czech Republic has solid players in Tomas Berdych and Radek Stepanek and a clear advantage in doubles with specialists Vizner and Dlouhy, but the Russians can never be underestimated, especially at home. Surface could be key for this tie. Next, Sweden will be the next victims of an Argentine home tie, which will surely be on clay. Argentina has not lost a home tie since 1998, and it’s hard to see Sweden breaking that streak, no matter who plays for each team.
The bottom half of the World Group draw features two very interesting quarterfinals. Spain will head to Germany, which could be a close tie especially if Tommy Haas is healthy and able to play. Look for the Germans to lay down a fast court. Spain will hope that its top two players in Rafael Nadal and David Ferrer show up to play; both stayed home for the first round tie. Finally, the US faces the toughest home tie as they will host France at the already-decided venue indoors in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, which held an excellent quarterfinal tie last year. We imagine the Americans will lay down a very quick low-bouncing court, probably one that plays similar to the US Open. With an excellent doubles team and two singles players having fantastic 2008 seasons, France will pose a formidable threat, particularly because their preferred surfaces are the same as the Americans so picking a favorable surface will be difficult for the defending champions, so they will have to rely on their top stars’ excellent home records and the crowd to pull through instead of any surface advantage if they hope to advance to the semifinals.


Challenger Circuit
By the way, there was one fairly decent-sized Challenger event this week in Bergamo, Italy, and it was a good one for hometown player Andreas Seppi, who picked up the singles title with a good win over Julien Benneteau and the doubles title with Countryman Bolelli.

Davis Cup Roundup: First Round Day 2 Doubles Action, February 9

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Russia vs. Serbia
The doubles was a must-win match for the Serbians to stay alive, so despite neither player being 100%, Serbia fielded its best possible team in Novak Djokovic and top doubles player Nenad Zimonjic. On the Russian side, Mikhail Youzhny replaced Marat Safin and paired up with Dmitry Tursunov. For the first two sets, the Serbians were in control of the match, but it got much tougher in the third set as the affects of their virus caught up to Djokovic and Zimonjic – after the match Zimonjic would say they were just trying to “survive” during the third set. In fact, the Russian served for that set at 6*-5, but they didn’t and the Serbians went on to win the tiebreaker, allowing their team to try to fight back on Sunday. After the match, Djokovic said he did feel somewhat better but not 100% and did not know if he would be able to come out on Sunday to play Davydenko.

Russia vs Serbia

Czech Republic vs Belgium
With their top two singles players, Tomas Berdych and Radek Stepanek , back on court today for doubles, the Czech Republic clinched its spot in the World Group Quarterfinals with a marathon 5-set win that spanned almost 4 and a half hours. In a see-saw affair, the Czechs served for the first set but ultimately lost it in a tiebreaker. It was an interesting move by the Czechs to stick with their singles players instead of Dlouhy and Vizner, two excellent doubles players on the team. Down a set and a break to the Belgians Kristof Vliegen and Olivier Rochus, the Czechs made a fine comeback, taking the second set also in a tiebreaker. The match continued this back and forth progression through the fifth set, where the Belgians let slip an early break point only to lose it 6-4 in the end, sending the Czechs through to the Quarters.
Argentina vs Great Britain
The only real news we have here is that Great Britain finally made a set close, really close! The British team of Ross Hutchins and doubles specialist Jamie Murray were able to push David Nalbandian and Jose Acasuso to a 13-11 second set tiebreaker. They even had at least one set point in that tiebreaker to give themselves their first set of the whole tie but were unable to convert. Of course then they were bageled in the third, but at least Britain made one set close… So, the Argentines breeze through to the quarterfinals
Israel vs Sweden
Coming off their historical first Grand Slam title, it was up to Israelis Erlich and Ram to give Israel an all-important advantage going into Sunday’s singles tie, and they did not disappoint their home crowd. Starting off well and getting out to an early 3-0 lead, the Israelis were in control from the start. Excellent doubles in their own right, Sweden’s Aspelin and Lindstedt were able to keep the match close despite the straight-sets score. So Israel will head into tomorrow’s reverse singles with a 2-1 advantage and two very interesting matches on Sunday with Sela facing Thomas Johansson first up.
Germany vs Korea

Not a whole lot to say here as Korea interestingly did not play its top player Hyung-Taik Lee and instead played two relative unknowns in Jun and An. The German pairing of Philipps – Kohlschreiber and Petzschner – easily dispatched the Korean team, giving the Germans a 2-1 lead going into tomorrow. The first reverse singles match will pit Kohlschreiber against Lee, which should be an interesting encounter.
Peru vs Spain
After pulling out of yesterday’s opening singles match with an injury, Peru’s only notable player, Luis Horna, managed to suit up for the doubles. Playing with Ivan Miranda, however, the team was still outclassed by a stronger Spanish team – Fernando Verdasco and Feliciano Lopez – two singles players who still have excellent doubles prowess. Although the match was a straight-setter for the Spaniards, the third set was tight and went to a tiebreaker, which the Spaniards ultimately won. With the win, Spain wrapped up its victory and sails through to the quarterfinals. Meanwhile, Peru can still be satisfied that it got to play in the World Group at all in the first place, and it now will look to a World Group Playoff match in September, where it will have to play for the right to be in the World Group next year.
Romania vs France
Hoping to keep themselves alive and also hoping to repeat their surprise upset of the same French team – Arnaud Clement and Michael Llodra – in the same round in Davis Cup play, Mergea and Tecau started slowly, losing serve in the opening game and blowing a 30-0 lead at 4*-5 in the second to lose the first two sets. but fought bravely to come back and win the next two to send the match to a deciding fifth set. In the third set, the Romanians were able to save some crucial break points to force a tiebreaker. And at 5all in the tiebreaker, Llodra, who was the better player of the two throughout the match, gave his partner the chances to end the match on his serve but he missed a volley and allowed the Romanians back into it. Looking like they had all the momentum, the R0manians had a chance to break early in the fifth but were unable to convert and from then on the French eased to victory and to a 3-0 sweep to the Quarterfinals where they will play away in the US.
Austria vs USA
And to the bottom of the draw, which actually provided the first team to move through to the quarterfinals after the Bryan twins put on a dazzling display of doubles tennis to easily win what was, on paper, a difficult matchup for them, to sen the US team to the quarterfinals. Getting off to a flawless start, the Bryans took the opening set 6-1 behind some incredible volleying and returning. As the match wore on, it became more and more apparent that Melzer was still feeling the effects of his marathon against Roddick yesterday; the Bryans noticed this and started targeting him more and more to the point where, by the end of the second set, he could barely make a volley. After the match, the Austrians fully admitted they were simply beaten by two guys playing amazing tennis. And so, what more is there to say?
So, like they have done so many other times, the Bryans wrapped up their match easily in the third set and assured the defending champion Americans a place in the Quarterfinals, which will be held at home in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. The fact that the US wrapped up the tie today brings extra good news. Word from fans at the tie is that Roddick tweaked his knee at least once on the holey clay surface yesterday and that he was limping today on the sidelines; apparently, Blake was experiencing some back trouble as well. Luckily with the tie wrapped up, both of the Bryans can come out and play in their place tomorrow for the best-of-three set dead rubbers. And of course, hopefully Roddick and Blake aren’t hurt too badly.

Davis Cup Draw Ceremony Roundup: February 7

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All around the world today, the First Round Davis Cup draw ceremonies were held. Here’s all the important news and photos from around the globe! We won’t bore you with the “who plays whom first” stuff that you can get easily at the Davis Cup website. Instead, here are a few things that we think are noteworthy or that give a particular team a strategic advantage.

 Novak 2

Russia vs. Serbia
In what could turn out to be a pivotal blow to Serbia’s chances, rising Serb star Janko Tipsarevic is out of the first-round tie with Russia in Moscow because of a severe stomach bug and will be replaced by Davis Cup rookie Viktor Troicki. Fresh off his Australian Open win, Novak Djokovic will open the tie against Russia’s #2 player Mikhail Youzhny.
For Saturday’s doubles Marat Safin, amid rumors that he would pull out because some kind of serious injury, has been named to play alongside Dmitry Tursunov, apparently because next-in-line choice Igor Andreev was unavailable and Tarpischev felt any youngster he could call up would be unable to compete with the Serb team. Interesting. On the Serbian side, Djokovic was named to play doubles alongside doubles specialist Nenad Zimonjic in an unsurprising move that would make Djokovic an absolutely crucial factor in his team’s success. In Sunday’s reverse singles matches, Davydenko is slated to take on Djokovic and Troicki would meet Youzhny.

LATE BREAKING NEWS: In what would surely be a tie-altering revelation, it seems that Djokovic has also contracted this “viral infection” that has plagued teammate Janko Tipsarevic. After all the Haas Hoopla last fall, it’s hard not to think of this as some kind of bizarre coincidence. Hopefully at least this time, these guys can be tested ASAP to put the conspiracy theories to rest! However, he has not officially withdrawn as of the time we are publishing this, so we’ll have to wait and see what the story is when we wake up!
Israel vs. Sweden
Perhaps not as high-profile or more lacking in top players than some of the other ties this weekend, Sweden vs. Israel might actually prove to be the most interesting tie of the World Group first round. The tie was made even more intriguing after today’s draw, which has the more interesting singles match of the two – Jonas Bjorkman versus Dudi Sela – first up. This makes the first match even more critical than it might have been because if Sela can put in a solid performance and give Israel a 1-0 lead, it will set the Israeli team up nicely for the doubles, allowing top team Erlich and Ram to play knowing they will have at worst a 1-1 tie. Had the tie worked out the other way, Sweden would likely have been up 1-0, thus putting more pressure on Sela and in our opinion, making a 2-0 sweep for Sweden on Friday more likely.
A couple of other interesting things from this tie. Before the tie, Andy Ram apparently said that Israel is the weakest team in the world group and that they should not be considered favorites against anyone. Whether that’s true humility or some kind of mind game, we cannot be sure, but with one solid singles player in Sela and a top doubles team, it’s hard to call this Israeli team “weak.” Also interesting is that Jonas Bjorkman, one of the best doubles players of all time, has been left off the Swedish doubles squad in favor of Robert Lindstedt, a younger doubles specialist, so that Bjorkman can focus on his singles matches. A very interesting strategy for Sweden that, if Sunday’s matches are live, could prove to be a very important decision.
Peru vs. Spain
Not that this is shocking, but Nicolas Almagro – slightly lower-ranked than Fernando Verdasco but probably a better clay-courter and perhaps tougher mentally – has been chosen as a singles starter for Spain. He will open against Luis Horna in a match that is absolutely critical to Peru’s chances. It is a must-win match for Horna; there’s no other way to put it. This match actually has quite the potential to be a marathon. Although Horna himself expected to play Almagro, others were surprised. Robredo acknowledged that although Spain is the favorite in the tie, they still have to go out there and win. Horna on the other hand, hopes that the rowdy Peruvian crowd might help lift his teammates to surprising heights.

Austria vs. USA
Perennial American #1 Andy Roddick will lay his 6-0 head-to-head record (with no sets lost) on the line as he suits up to face Austrian Jurgen Melzer in Friday’s first opening singles rubber, which will be followed by James Blake and Stefan Koubek on an indoor red clay surface at Ferry Dusika Hallenstadion in Vienna. Despite Roddick’s one-sided head-to-head, he admits this match will be a difficult one, considering it is on clay and in front of a hostile Austrian crowd. Saturday’s doubles match will pit American twins and World #1 Bob and Mike Bryan against Melzer and Julian Knowle. On Sunday’s reverse singles matches, we’re scheduled to see Roddick vs Koubek and Blake vs Melzer if the matches are live.
The US Team has to be pleased that Roddick will open the tie, considering his impatient personality and impressive record against Melzer; plus, one would think (or hope?) that Roddick to show the world that his game is still on track after his befuddling Australian Open exit. Despite some concerns about the surface being rough around the playing area, US Captain Patrick McEnroe is optimistic that the surface will be fine for play tomorrow. Additionally, Roddick flatly denied having a problem with the court, asking where the reporter heard him say he was unhappy with it and that whoever told him Roddick didn’t like the court “doesn’t know anything.” Ouch. But of course, Roddick has to expect to have much of the pressure, considering Blake has never won a live Davis Cup singles rubber on clay. Double ouch.
It’s not that the other ties are unimportant or don’t deserve attention, it’s just that we don’t really feel there’s anything too important about the draw ceremony to make you read. So instead, enjoy the pictures from the draw ceremonies and come back tomorrow for reports of all the matches from around the globe!

Davis Cup First Round Preview

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This weekend, the 2008 Davis Cup competition will get underway with the first round for both the World Group and Zonal Ties. We’ll look in-depth at the World Group matches in the order of the draw from top to bottom and summarize the Zonal play. All of the pictures are from today’s team press conferences.

Russia Davis Cup Team 2008 2

Russia vs. Serbia (at Russia) (2-1 Russia)
At the top of the draw lies the most interesting tie of the first round. What may look on paper to be “Djokovic vs. the Russians” might actually be a little more complicated. Serbia’s second singles player, Janko Tipsarevic, just got himself a lot of attention for almost beating Roger Federer at the Australian Open, and Nenad Zimonjic is a top doubles player who will be coming off a Mixed Doubles win Down Under. The biggest question of this tie is, of course, how Russia’s crafty captain Shamil Tarpischev will make the decision between his deep and talented group of players. While the most likely Day 1 matches are Davydenko against Tipsarevic and Youzhny against Djokovic, with Tarpischev no one really knows until the players show up on court. After missing the 2007 Final against the USA, always unpredictable Marat Safin is back on the team. Selfishly, we’d love to see a Safin/Djokovic match for the sheer entertainment value.
The doubles match could be pivotal to this tie. It’s likely Djokovic will suit up with Zimonjic for Serbia, which would make for a formidable Serbian team. Russia’s best pairing is probably Safin and Tursunov, who won a title together at the end of last season. Youzhny is also a decent doubles player, but we think putting Safin and Tursunov out there would be a better strategy. At this point, we think this tie is too close to call.

Czech Republic vs. Belgium (at Czech Republic) (6-3 Czech Republic)
With Berdych and Stepanek at home on their preferred indoor carpet surface, combined with two top 15 doubles players in Vizner and Dlouhy, it’s hard to see anything but a pretty comfortable victory for the Czech Republic. Of course, it’s Davis Cup and anything is possible. Vliegen, who made it to a Challenger final in Poland this week, is capable of big wins and Stepanek can be inconsistent, so if Vliegen can have a good day on Friday and keep the tie close, anything is possible. But it’s still hard to see Belgium doing too well in this tie.
Argentina vs. Great Britain (at Argentina) (2-1 Argentina)
Poor Great Britain. They have to go to Buenos Aires on the red clay and they have to try to do it without their top player, Andy Murray, who’s out due to injury. What can we really say about this tie, except that it’s hard to see the Brits even win sets, let alone matches, even though Argentina has lost Juan Monaco due to a severe ankle injury; he will be replaced by Sebastien Prieto and will probably play doubles.
Israel vs. Sweden (at Israel) (teams have never played)
This tie has a nice storyline just for the sheer fact that Israel is even in the World Group at all after their titanic win in last September’s World Group Playoffs. Fresh off their first Grand Slam title together, Erlich and Ram should take the doubles, but face formidable competition in Bjorkman and Aspelin, both top 20 doubles players. The singles matches are a little more difficult to predict. While small in size but big in heart, Dudi Sela was the hero of that World Group Playoff, beating both Nicolas Massu and Fernando Gonzalez in marathon 5-set matches.
Of course, one can never discount the Swedish players, who have a wonderful team camaraderie and often play their best tennis when playing Davis Cup for their country. Thomas Johansson played some of his best tennis of 2007 in Davis Cup matches, and a wild card in the tie could be the form of veteran Jonas Bjorkman, who will play his first matches of the year in this Davis Cup tie. This one will be one of the more interesting ties to watch.
Germany vs. Korea (at Germany) (teams have never played)
The fact that this tie is being played on indoor clay makes this one pretty easy to predict. While a Kohlschreiber/Lee match on Sunday would be interesting, it’s very likely to be inconsequential as it’s hard to see Korea gaining a point in any of the first three matches.
Peru vs. Spain (at Peru) (teams have never played)
This tie just got a whole lot more interesting with the news that Spain’s #1 player David Ferrer has withdrawn from the tie due to a leg injury. Spain still boasts a team of solid players, however none of the Spanish players have been in very good form lately and Ferrer’s replacement Lopez is not particularly good on clay. Peru has a very tough player in Luis Horna, so Spain will look to Robredo and Almagro, two good clay-courters, to save the tie for Spain.
Of course, we can’t forget the fact that this tie is important for the sole fact that it is Peru’s first time in the World Group – an important and noteworthy feat in and of itself!
Romania vs. France (at Romania) (7-1 France)
With the rise of Tsonga and Gasquet and the solid doubles pairing (and both competent singles players) of Clement and Llodra, this one seems pretty cut and dried, even though it is in Romania. Add that to the fact that it is being played on indoor hard, and this seems like it should be a pretty easy French victory. However, the Romanian team of Tecau and Mergea did defeat Llodra and Clement last year in the first round, and while Pavel’s getting up there in age at 34 years old, he is still capable of playing solid tennis. Additionally, this is the first tie where Australian Open finalist Jo-Wilfried Tsonga will take part. It remains to be seen how he will handle the different pressure that exists in Davis Cup play.
Austria vs. USA (at Austria) (2-0 USA)
For the ninth time in a row – a USA Davis Cup record – the defending champions will boast the same team, with two top 10 singles players and the #1 doubles team, the US team remains a veritable “dream team.” Of course, the US team always struggles on away ties on clay, and this tie should be no different. Add this to the fact that Roddick is coming off a disappointing and poorly-played Australian Open and that even the Bryan twins have had a disappointing start to the year having lost some close matches, and this tie is much more complicated than it might look on paper. Koubek had an excellent Australian Open and Knowle and Melzer are a solid doubles team with Knowle ranked in the top 10; he was part of the team that beat the Bryans in last year’s US Open before Knowle and his partner Aspelin went on to win that titlemelzer.
Though Blake has had some big mental breakthrough matches in the last few months, his mentality is still questionable on clay, and if Roddick continues his behind-the-baseline movement-dependent play on clay, an aggressive player like Melzer might be able to take advantage of that. In the end, we think the Bryans will rise to the occasion as they so often do in Davis Cup play and Blake and Roddick should both be able to eke out a win each and send the defending champs to the quarterfinals.
Zonal Ties
We can’t ignore the Zonal ties, where there are a few important stories. Namely, in Group I ties, Switzerland, playing without #1 Roger Federer, has been relegated to Zonal play. Perhaps even more surprisingly, so is Australia, who will travel to Taiwan with its #1 and Davis Cup stalwart Lleyton Hewitt to try to get back into the World Group.
Stay tuned for coverage from Thursday’s draw ceremonies around the globe and the matches when they begin!

Joachim "Pim-Pim" Johansson To Call It Quits

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Joachim JohanssonYesterday, another injury-plagued player said goodbye to the ATP tour. Sweden Joachim Johansson announced he is retiring from the tour at age 25 due to lingering shoulder problems that have troubled him over the past few years. Although he can train pain-free for a few weeks and play one tournament at a time, he realized over the past month or so that he would be unable to return to the tour full-time and ultimately decided to call it quits after having had three surgeries; he has been told that having more surgeries will not fix the problem.
Johansson is probably best remembered for knocking out World #2 and defending champion Andy Roddick in the 2004 US Open quarterfinals in a 5-set night match. The following January, he played a memorable match with Andre Agassi, in which he served a record-tying 51 aces in a four-set loss. Then in February, Johansson made it into the top 10 for the first time, reaching a high of #9. He also won three singles titles, in Memphis in 2004 (which we remember for the ‘perfect’ 100% serving set he played against James Blake in the second round), and in Adelaide and Marseilles in 2005.
Looking back, Johansson’s last professional matches came in his home, Sweden, at the 2007 Stockholm Open last October. He won his first round match against Carlos Berlocq and was then forced to withdraw before his second-round match, only to never play professionally again. Of course, Johansson says he will always play tennis and that it will always be a part of his life. Word from the Swedish press is that he hopes to be a coach or trainer to youngsters in Sweden. Always nice to see a retired star give back to the sport, especially in a country like Sweden, which has a long and decorated tennis history but has experienced somewhat of a decline in recent years.
Known for his huge serve and forehand, Johansson played an aggressive style that was particularly potent indoors, where he won two of his three singles titles. He got injured when he was in the prime of his career and playing his best tennis, and many believed he would achieve great success and remain in the top 10 for a long time. Although none of us called him one of our favorite players, as fans of the sport, we will miss another player whose career is unfortunately forced to end prematurely due to serious injury and we wish him luck in whatever endeavors he pursues in the next chapter of his life.