ROTTERDAM (Feb. 17, 2013) — Juan Martin del Potro came out the victor at the ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament today, earning his 14th career title by defeating Julien Benneteau, 7-6(2), 6-3.
“I cannot believe I’ve won”, stated the Argentine in his final press conference. “I’m so happy. Before I came to Rotterdam, I saw all the big names on the participants list. I did not dare to think that I would leave with the title, but I’ve played well from the first round. And that was really necessary.”
As the first set went to a tiebreak, both players had their chance, but experience won over as Del Potro kept his cool to seal the first set. “It cost me so much energy to keep up,” stated Benneteau. “In almost all of my service games Del Potro got break points. Given the intensity of the game it was very difficult to stay fresh. In the tie-break I gave away some points too easy.”
Del Potro also paid respect to the Frechman’s game and perseverance: “Julien was giving me a hard time. He had an excellent game plan, played every point aggressive and continued fighting until the end. He made me do a lot of running and I don’t like that. Benneteau earned to play this final.”
In the doubles final, the team of Robert Lindstedt and Nenad Zimonjic overcame crowd favorites Thiemo De Bakker and Jesse Huta Galung, 5-7, 6-3, 10-8.
“It’s always great to win your first title [as a team],” stated Zimonjic. “This is our fourth tournament of the year and we were definitely struggling. The beginning of the week was really tough and we were lucky at times. We managed to play better and better.”
(Full gallery by Tennis Grandstand photographer Rick Gleijm.)
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Robert Lindstedt
Gallery: Del Potro Overcomes a Resurgent Gulbis; Federer Eases Through
ROTTERDAM (Feb. 14, 2013) — No. 2 seed Juan Martin del Potro had his hands full as a resurgent Ernests Gulbis clawed his way into the first set, before the Argentine eventually won 7-6(5), 6-3.
“It was a real battle”, Del Potro stated. “I played well, but had a hard time.”
Gulbis, a former top-25 player, revealed earlier this week that he feels he can break into the top 20 this season. And Del Potro agrees. “I think Gulbis will be in the top twenty soon”, Del Potro complimented his opponent. “I’ve known him for quite a while now, because we are both 24 years old, but he’s a talented player and I’m sure he will return to the top.”
Roger Federer also made quick work of Thiemo De Bakker, 6-3, 6-4 to reach the quarterfinals, but not before paying his own respect to the Dutchman. “Thiemo de Bakker served good, he is an excellent player,” stated Federer. “He can be much higher on the ATP-ranking than he is now. ”
Martin Klizan, Marcos Baghdatis and Jarkko Nieminen also advanced to the quarterfinals, which begin tomorrow.
In doubles, leading 6-4, 1-0, the team of Marray/Fleming were forced to retire against Lindstedt/Zimonjic when Marray experienced severe right calf muscle pain.
(Gallery by Tennis Grandstand photographer Rick Gleijm.)
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Doubles is double the fun at Barclay's ATP World Tour Championships
By Jane Voigt, owner of DownTheTee.com
November 7, 2012 — You’ve heard this before, “Why don’t they show more doubles?”
Why indeed.
But ask any producer and you’ll hear the expected rap, “It doesn’t sell ad space.”
The response is enough to shove dreams of American realism – the rags to riches story – in a deep hole. Their reasoning diverts to money, not entertainment, not consumer desires, not the absolutely awesome nature of the game of doubles.
Have they ever really watched it? Followed it? Way more interesting than singles.
First, four players are on court. That mathematically equals twice the entertainment and ticket value, twice the tennis, and twice what you would expect as added coverage. That means more jobs! Think about that you international politicians. You want an uptick in popularity, promise to televise doubles. It’s a slick ticket made in re-election heaven.
The political benefits aside, doubles fanatics, which we all know are more numerous than singles fanatics, can get their fill this week by tuning in to The Barclay’s World Tour Finals from London. Not only are the top eight teams from the year on hand to delight the packed O2 Arena, they are first up each session. You could conclude they are the premier matches of the week.
Here are more reasons doubles are twice the fun.
Two people play to win a point, game, set and match. Two means a relationship; they are partners. This logically suggests the introduction of complicated human interactions, which is lost in singles competition. Unless, of course, you construe the rantings of a player toward a support box as interaction.
Teams converse between points. Do knuckle bumps, high fives, signal tactics to their partner before a toss, and if the Bryan brothers are battling … chest bumps. Can’t see that in any other sport. Soccer players may leap into each others arms, but so can the brothers. They won’t skid across a tennis court on their knees though, for obvious and injurious reasons. Well, maybe on grass.
Let’s face it, doubles is way more interesting to watch. Teams serve and volley, change sides, yell ‘out’ so their partners don’t do something stupid like give away a point, and find every lucky angle and spot on a court.
They hit deep ground strokes, short under-spins, half-volleys, and magnificent overhead smashes that crack like a whip.
With four players at the net, the rata-tat-tat of volley exchanges builds audience energy to a fevered pitch. It’s a wonder the men don’t hear it.
It’s wild. It’s exciting.
Doubles is a complicated game, too, because of its nature. In singles every ball is for you. Not so in doubles. There is order to returns and movement, although scrambling to cover an open spot may look like mayhem.
The Teams
Bob and Mike Bryan are the best at movement. As twins, they intuitively know what the other will do. Their expectations are in sync, which puts them at a mighty high level of performance in sports. One person can enter the zone, yes, but two acting as a team … not so easy. They are the number one seeds this week.
Throughout their career they have clinched 82 ATP titles — the most of any doubles team. They will end 2013 at number one for the eighth time, and the fourth consecutive. At the U. S. Open they won their 12th slam, an Open-era record. To top off their season, they won a gold medal at the London Olympics.
Daniel Nestor and Max Mirnyi are the defending champions. So far they are 1-1 in round robin play. They seem to be in the ‘harder’ group, along with Wimbledon doubles champions, Jonathan Marray and Frederik Nielson. They are 2-0 and the most unlikely team on hand.
Marray is the first native-born Briton to play in this tournament; and Nielsen teamed with Marray seconds before the deadline to enter Wimbledon this summer. Nielsen’s record has been about singles and after this week he will return to that discipline, leaving Marray to search for a partner. If they continue to mesmerize win, he won’t be left out in the cold for long. But, then again, partners are not just a matter of availability.
Leander Paes and Radek Stepanek were the last team to qualify. It’s Stepanek’s inaugural World Tour Championship.
Scoring
With all the fun available for fans, the choice of no-ad scoring has been hard to understand. And, any promotion that dares to intimate this is a ‘fifth grand slam’ should have their funding cut. No major tournament would allow no-add scoring.
The lovely dynamics of doubles is negated in this format. At 40-all, the serving team picks the side from where they’d like to serve. This point ends the game. Ordinarily, these top-flight teams groove to a different rhythm. Teetering between ad-in and ad-out is familiar. They are trained for this. It gives them chances to come back, use their strengths – both mental and tactical. The better team can hold with more consistency, which is the pinnacle of skill in tennis.
The no-ad scoring in London, though, throws randomness at the competition. It doesn’t serve the tournament, players, or 15,000 fans that pack the house every session.
As a result the outcomes of the matches have an odd undercurrent. If you look at the match stats, the losing teams have won more points than the winning teams. Not by much, but it’s lopsided. This means they’ve won more service and return points.
In their loss to Mirnyi and Nestor on Monday, Robert Lindstedt and Horacio Tecau won 83% of their second service points, an incredibly high percentage. Their opponents won 43%. Lindstedt/Tecau converted all their break point changes, too. Mirnyi/Nestor went 0 for 2.
Five of the six matches have been decided by 10-point champions tiebreaks. First to ten by two. This is the only remnants of normalcy in London. They are used throughout the season. And every world tour player knows that tiebreaks should be avoided. Without regular scoring, though, the outcomes this week will not reflect the depth that these men can achieve in the sets that precede the tiebreaks. The scoring robbed them of a type of play that demonstrates their excellence. They literally cannot play their games, which is a shame for the deserved prestige assigned them.
Jane Voigt lives, breathes and writes tennis. She wrote about John Isner’s ground-breaking wildcard run at the formerly named Legg Mason Tennis Classic in 2007 for Tennis.com. She has written tennis commentary for the late, great Tennis Week print publication and online version. Hundreds of articles from Jane have been seen on TennisServer.com, too. She now maintains her own website at DownTheTee.com, and has traveled throughout the U. S. and Canada to cover tournaments. Ask her to play tennis, and she’ll prefer singles to doubles.
Tuesday at the BNP Paribas Open
Things are heating up in Indian Wells—at least for those players that are still healthy. Nikolay Davydenko pulled out this morning, paving the way for Thomasz Belluci to make it into the round of 16.
Fernando Verdasco and Juan Martin Del Potro started things off on center court. Del Potro began well, taking the first set 6-2. Clearly, Verdasco’s neon yellow and orange outfit wasn’t too distracting for him. Verdasco turned on his forehand in the second set and took the match to a tiebreak, but Del Potro managed to eke out a win. Both players did well. Unfortunately, it just came too late for Verdasco.
In the doubles world, John Isner and Sam Querry faced Robert Lindstedt and Horia Tecau. The trouble for the fourth-seeded doubles team started on Lindstedt’s serve as a mix of errors and strong play from Quisner forced a break much to the delight of the very pro-American crowd. Lindstedt and Tecau fought back for a super breaker but ultimately failed to do much with it, losing 10-5.
On center court, Victoria Azarenka and Maria Sharapova both pulled out convincing wins. I’m hoping for a replay of the Australian Open final this weekend at the BNP Paribas Open.
My favorite match of the day was Jo Wilfried Tsonga and Radek Stepanek. Stepanek fought hard in the first set and managed to win the tiebreaker with surprising ease. The second set was a different story, though. Stepanek played well, but Tsonga came back strong in the second and third and proved to be too tough for the Czech.
Alexandr Dolgopolov and Marcos Baghdatis were up next and continued the theme of neon orange. It’s great to see the Cypriot back in action. He gave Dolgopolov some trouble, but in the end, Baghdatis couldn’t do enough.
Center court was packed again when Rafael Nadal took on countryman, Marcel Granollers. Granollers wasn’t able to throw too much at Nadal, who got through the match quite comfortably. He made very few errors in the first set, but Nadal tightened up in the second and looked a bit shaky, making several mistakes. He did enough, though, to see off Granollers.
The night session started on time tonight with Roger Federer playing Milos Raonic, which proved to be an interesting match. Check out Andrea Lubinsky’s article for analysis of the match. It certainly set a great atmosphere for Caroline Wozniacki and Ana Ivanovic.
On the outside courts, men’s doubles with the Murray brother against Max Mirnyi and Daniel Nestor as well as Richard Gasquet and Paul Hanley facing Oliver Marach and Alexander Peya while Marion Bartoli closed out the night by winning against Lucie Safarova on court two.
Check in with us tomorrow for more coverage!
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Indian Wells Around the Grounds
The Indian Wells bug has continued to play a big part in the tournament. The morning began with Francesca Schiavone taking on Lucie Safarova. Safarova looked good today and took the first set although Schiavone’s stomach bug likely had a great deal to do with it. She retired after losing the first set, but I certainly respect that she was willing to play.
Feliciano Lopez started the day on the practice courts as did Fernando Verdasco although they were unfortunately not playing together. On the men’s side of the draw, Stanilsas Wavrinka played against Gilles Simon. The match looked fairly even, but Simon pulled his way through it.
Also on the practice courts, Robert Lindstedt and Horatio Tecau were working hard early this afternoon. They made an appearance in the Corona tent late this afternoon for a trivia contest and some photos, which was a fun surprise to walk in on.
Afterwards, Novak Djokovic took on Kevin Anderson. Anderson played well for the first few games, making a close match of it in the first four games. Djokovic turned on the style and took over the rest of the match.
Mardy Fish had an interesting match with Matthew Ebden. Fish played hard, but controversy ensued when Fish cheered before Ebden could make it to his drop shot. Fish didn’t seem to realize that he lost the point at first, but he put up an argument about it afterwards. In his press conference, Fish admitted that he did not quite understand the rules and believed he deserved a let rather than losing the point. Fish seemed to have lost his concentration after that, but it was a good match.
Andy Roddick had a tight match against Tomas Berdych. Berdych certainly had the advantage in the first set, which caused Andy some headaches. The crowd helped Roddick in the second set, so he scratched his way into a third set. Unfortunately, he wasn’t able to pull it out.
Tomorrow, I hope for some more shots of the practice courts and some great matches, so stay tuned!
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Mondays With Bob Greene: Ana Ivanovic May Even Be Better Than Maria Sharapova
STARS
Nikolay Davydenko won The Hypo Group Tennis International 2008 in Poertschach, Austria, defeating Juan Monaco 6-2 2-6 6-2
Sweden captured the ARAG World Team Cup in Duesseldorf, Germany, edging Russia 2-1 when Robert Lindstedt and Robin Soderling took the decisive doubles, downing Dimitry Tursunov and Mikhail Youzhny 4-6 7-6 (5) 11-9
Gilles Simon defeated Julien Benneteau 7-5 6-2 to win the Grand Prix Hassan II in Casablanca, Morocco
Anabel Medina Garrigues successfully defended Internationaux de Strasbourg title by beating Katarina Srebotnik 4-6 7-6 (4) 6-0 in Strasbourg, France
Agnieszka Radwanska beat Elena Demetieva 6-3 6-2 to win the Istanbul Cup in Istanbul, Turkey
SAYINGS
“I don’t think I will ever come back. I think that it’s important just to move on.” – Justine Henin, confirming her retirement from tennis is for good.
“What better way could there be for me to say goodbye?” – Gustavo Kuerten, three-time French Open champion who retired after losing his first-round match at Roland Garros 6-3 6-4 6-2 to Frenchman Paul-Henri Mathieu.
“I’ve never been this nervous in my whole life and maybe never been this glad in my whole life either. It’s a great feeling.” – Robin Soderling, after teaming with Robert Lindstedt to win the decisive doubles and lead Sweden to the ARAG World Team Cup title.
“Even though I was a qualifier this week, I knew that in theory I was number two of the tournament. I came here to win the tournament. I knew that I had my chances and it was a great week for me.” – Gilles Simon, after winning the Grand Prix Hassan II.
‘I had a couple of funny finals, but I would say this was the toughest. It stopped and started. I don’t even know how long we were out there.” – Katarina Srebotnik, who led 6-4 6-5 before losing at Strasbourg, France, to Anabel Medina Garrigues.
“I am very happy to win here and I have a lot of confidence going into Paris.” – Nikolay Davydenko after winning The Hypo Group Tennis International 2008.
“In the warm-up I couldn’t put the ball in the court because I was so nervous. So the first few games were more like my warm-up.” – Agnieszka Radwanska, who won the Istanbul Cup
“The doctor did not give me the green light to serve at 100 percent. I prefer to focus on the grass-court season.” – Frenchman Sebastien Grosjean, pulling out of the French Open.
“I have had the best preparation I’ve had since 2002. I fell like I have played so many clay-court tournaments. I feel like I’m a clay-court player. I’m comfortable out there, which is great.” – Serena Williams, saying she’s one of the favorites to win at Roland Garros.
“I am probably more relaxed. I am now capable of saying the objective is just the next match.” – Amelie Mauresmo, admitting the pressure to win the French Open has affected her game in the past.
“You have to concentrate. You just have to survive all the problems that come at you. It’s like tennis’ equivalent of a marathon.” – Carlos Moya, the 1998 French Open champion, on playing at Roland Garros.
“If he’s as good as he looks right now … and stays away from injuries and be motivated, it’s going to be tough to beat him at the French.” – Bjorn Borg, picking Rafael Nadal to win his fourth straight French Open.
“I don’t think it’s going to be anything that’s terribly long and I would be surprised if he was not ready to go for Queen’s. But as for now he needs to take a good 10 days, 12 days, just rest.” – John Roddick, Andy’s brother and coach, on the sixth-ranked American’s right shoulder injury.
“There is sufficient cause for concern about the integrity of some players and those outside tennis who seek to corrupt them.” – Report by an independent panel that concluded that 45 professional tennis matches in the past five years had suspicious betting patterns.
“James Blake is a great ambassador for his sport on and off the court. He is always friendly, courteous and lives the idea of Fair Play.” – Dietloff von Arnim, tournament director of the ARAG World Team Cup while giving Blake the Fair Play Trophy for the second time.
“You taught me everything important in this sport.” – James Blake, thanking his coach Brian Baker after receiving the Fair Play Trophy in Duesseldorf, Germany.
STIRRING FINISH
The ARAG ATP World Team Championships went into overtime before Sweden finally edged Russia 3-2 to collect the trophy. The two nations split the singles – Sweden’s Robin Soderling beat Mikhail Youzhny 6-3 6-1 in the opener before Russia’s Igor Andreev eclipsed Thomas Johansson 2-6 6-3 6-4, ensuring that the doubles would be decisive. Soderling and Robert Lindstedt, who were undefeated during the week, rallied from behind to nip Dimitry Tursunov and Youzhny 4-6, 7-6 (5) 11-9.
SKIPPING PARIS
A host of French players and two former world number ones – Americans Lindsay Davenport and Andy Roddick – are among the growing crowd skipping the French Open for various reasons, including retirement, injuries and fatigue. Another former number one, three-time defending women’s champion Justine Henin, shocked tennis when she announcement her retirement last week. Others who have pulled out of Roland Garros include French players Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, who will undergo right knee surgery, Sebastiab Grosjean and Tatiana Golovin; Americans Meilen Tu and Meghann Shaugnessy; India’s Sania Mirza; Romania’s Andrei Pavel, and Austria’s Stefan Koubek.
SIZZLING SI
The cover of Sports Illustrated’s South Africa edition shows a topless Ana Ivanovic with her arms strategically wrapped around her body. The edition is headlined “Beauties of Sport Special Issue,” while the cover line says, “Author Paul Fein wrote of Ivanovic: “Breathtakingly beautiful and very talented, the Serbian tennis star has blazed up the WTA Tour rankings. We never … ever … thought we’d say this, but she may even better than Maria.”
SIR RABBIT
American Ashley Harkleroad revealed that she posed for the August edition of Playboy magazine. The 23-year-old Harkleroad, who is ranked 61st in the world, noted other athletes who have appeared in the magazine include Olympic swimmer Amanda Beard and former volleyball player Gabrielle Reese. “I’ll be the first tennis player ever. That’s kind of cool,” Harkleroad said.
SPANISH STREAK
Anabel Medina Garrigues is very comfortable at Strasbourg, France. For the second straight year and the third time in her career, the Spaniard won the Internationaux de Strasbourgh, this time rallying from a 6-4 6-5 deficit to beat Katarina Srebotnik 4-6 7-6 (4) 6-0 in a title match plagued by rain delays. Besides her three titles in Strasbourg, Medina Garrigues has won at Palermo, Italy, four times in her eight career titles.
SURPASSES MILLION-DOLLAR MARK
When Agnieszka Radwanska knocked off top-seeded and defending champion Elena Dementieva 6-3 6-2 to win the Istanbul Cup, she became the first Polish woman to surpass USD $1 million in career earnings on the WTA Tour. It was the third career title for Radwanska, who won at Stockholm, Sweden, last year and Pattaya City, Thailand, earlier this season. The loss was Dementieva’s first in eight matches in Istanbul.
SWEET SWEDES
Robert Lindstedt and Robin Soderling not only outlasted their Russian opponents to lift Sweden to the title of the 2008 ARAG World Team Cup, the pair also won the tournament’s doubles ranking. Lindstedt and Soderling captured all three of their round-robin matches in straight sets, then capped the week with a 4-6 7-6 (5) 11-9 win over Mikhail Youzhny and Dimitry Tursunov in the decisive match. Their victory in the final was enough to earn the pair an additional $15,700 along with the Rheinische Post Doubles Cup. Soderling won all eight matches he played – four singles and four doubles – during the week, joining John McEnroe and Fernando Gonzalez as the only players in the 31-year history of the tournament to achieve the feat.
STANDOUT
James Blake was awarded the Fair Play Trophy at the ARAG World Team Cup for the second time. The honor was voted on by the media representatives and the eight team captains.
SHALE SPARKLE
Maria Sharapova will have extra sparkle when she takes to the court at Roland Garros. The world number one will be wearing earrings designed by Tiffany’s Elsa Peretti, part of a two-year partnership between the tennis star and the jeweler. Sharapova also will be wearing a “Paris dress” by Nike which will have a luminous Tiffany pearl button closure.
STUDY INTENSIFIED
Tennis will take closer look at 45 matches played over the past five years that produced unusual better patterns. An independent panel recommended a closer investigation be made along with creating both an anti-corruption program and an integrity unit in tennis. The four Grand Slam tournaments, the International Tennis Federation (ITF), APT and Sony Ericsson WTA Tour accepted all 15 recommendations of the Environmental Review of Integrity in Professional Tennis, which concluded that “professional tennis is neither systematically nor institutionally corrupt.”
SPECIAL LADY
The Barnard Medal of Distinction – Barnard College’s highest honor – was bestowed on Billie Jean King at the school’s 116th commencement ceremony in New York City. King was honored for her being a pioneering athlete and champion for social equality.
STANDING TALL
United States Davis Cup captain Patrick McEnroe is one of nine new members of the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) Men’s Hall of Fame. Inducted in ceremonies at Tulsa, Oklahoma, were McEnroe, who played at Stanford, Steve Denton of Texas, David DiLucia of Notre Dame, Donald Johnson of North Carolina, Jim Pugh of UCLA, Robbie Weiss of Pepperdine and Chris Woodruff of Tennessee. Also inducted were Tom Jacobs, honored for his longtime contributions while at the NCAA, and Minnesota coach Jerry Noyce. The ITA Men’s Hall of Fame has inducted more than 170 players, coaches and contributors, including the late Arthur Ashe (UCLA), Jimmy Connors (UCLA), John McEnroe (Stanford) and Stan Smith (Southern California).
SENIOR STEFAN
Stefan Edberg, a six-time Grand Slam champion, including two Wimbledons, will join the BlackRock Tour of Champions later this year. The 42-year-old Swede, who retired from the ATP circuit 12 years ago, will compete in Paris, France, in September and in London, England, in December. Also joining the senior circuit are former French Open champions Michael Chang and Yevgeny Kafelnikov along with 1996 Wimbledon finalist Malivai Washington.
SITE SWITCH
Bangalore is the next stop for the ATP tournament that has been held in Mumbai the last two years. Located in southern India, Bangalore was host to the ATP World Doubles Championships in 2000. The Bangalore Open, which will begin play on Sept. 29, is being promoted by a company owned by Indian tennis star Mahesh Bhupathi.
SAD NEWS
The first chief executive officer of the ATP Tour, Hamilton Jordan, is dead. The political strategist behind Jimmy Carters successful 1976 run to the White House, Jordan led the formation of the ATP Tour when it began in 1990. Jordan, who died at his home in Atlanta, Georgia, was 63.
SHARED PERFORMANCES
Doubles Champions
Poertschach: Marcelo Melo and Andre Sa beat Julian Knowle and Jurgen Melzer 7-5 6-7 (3) 13-11
Casablanca: Albert Montanes and Santiago Ventura beat James Cerretani and Todd Perry 6-1 6-2
Istanbul: Jill Craybas and Olga Govortsova beat Marina Erakovic and Polona Hercog 6-1 6-2
Strasbourg: Yan Zi and Tatiana Perebiynis beat Chan Yung-Jan and Chuang Chia-Jung 6-4 6-7 (3) 10-6 (tiebreak)
SITES TO SURF
French Open (Roland Garros): www.rolandgarros.com/
French Tennis Federation: www.fft.fr/portail/
Ana Ivanovic: www.anaivanovic.com/
Anna Kournikova: http://clubs.sportsmates.com/kournikova/
Rafael Nadal: www.rafaelnadal.com
TOURNAMENTS THIS WEEK
ATP
$11,034,805 Roland Garros, Paris, France, clay
WTA TOUR
$10,891,368 Roland Garros, Paris, France, clay
TOURNAMENTS NEXT WEEK
ATP
$11,034,805 Roland Garros, Paris, France, clay
$150,000 Prostejov Challenger, Prostejov, Czech Republic, clay
WTA TOUR
$10,891,368 Roland Garros, Paris, France, clay
$100,000 Tiro A Volo, Rome, Italy, clay
Why do women love tennis?
If you ask Serbian tennis news portal Javno, they’ll tell you it’s because of these Swedish hotties (above).
If you ask my readers, they’ll seay it’s all about a Russian, a German, and a few Spaniards…
(photos of Swedish Davis Cup team at Buenos Aires for the quarterfinals; by Reuters via Javno)