Stepping Up In Davis Cup

Davis Cup is over for another badly-scheduled round, and while I don't think we've had any huge upsets per se, there have certainly been some interesting results.

Exhibit A: Spain vs Switzerland. I think we knew that Spain was going to win this one and win it easy... and some of us were secretly hoping Spain would win so that Switzerland that there could be a home tie in Australia in the playoffs. Which is very possible now. Woot.

Back on track. What I actually wanted to talk about here was the great effort that David Ferrer that put in. If you read the write up on the Davis Cup website it seems to blame Switzerland's showing all on Wawrinka playing poorly, which I think is a bit unfair. I mean, sure, he didn't play great, but I think David Ferrer played really, really well, especially in that decisive reverse singles rubber. He hasn't the bestest Davis Cup history in the past, as I have discussed before, so I like to see him bring it for his nation.

Ferru had that great year a couple of years back where he was up at about #4 in the rankings and then fell right back down again. I haven't seen him play this well for a long time - he's reached two finals of late, winning one, and now he's brought it at DC. He seems delightfully upwardly mobile!

The other really interesting result - and the only one that might even vaguely be called an upset - is the Serbia/USA tie. With Djokovic playing for Serbia and without Roddick, I think this one was always on the Serbian racquet. And I don't want to imply that US boys didn't bring it, because I think we can say they brought it. Especially John Isner. He very, very nearly knocked Djokovic off his perch. But this one had Serbia written all over it, and it really was Viktor Troicki that stepped up. I've been sort of following him since I saw him play Rafa in the first round of Australia a few years back, and he's really grown up excellent.

I felt really sorry for the US boys - they did a great job - but there was just not too much they could do about drawing the Serbians. (Hey, maybe if the Davis Cup were scheduled better, then someone like, say, Roddick, might be able to play! Mull on that, Davis Cup. Mull on that).

Davis Cup Ditties

Okay, so I know there's proper Davis Cup going on at the moment, but let's just talk playoffs at the moment. It's all going swimmingly for Australia - we've won our tie 3-0 going into the final day. Whether or not the final day will be played is moot, given the massive floods in Melbourne at the moment, so it's good we came through in three Bam.

We'll play Japan in the next playoff, and that's another intensely winnable tie. Australia might even end up in the actual Davis Cup next year. Mon dieu. Sacre bleu.

Back to normal Davis Cup, and it all seems very close. There's been a few ties won outright - France, Croatia and the Czech Republic are all through - but the rest are still tight. But I want to talk France now. They're 3-0 up on Germany - and, for once, that is exactly where they should be.

France has got so many excellent players - like, seriously, so many. SO MANY. And yet, in the last few years of Davis Cup, they have been ridiculously disappointing. They should be a guaranteed semi finalist every year with the number of top hundred players they have. I mean, come on, Tsonga, Monfils, Gasquet, Simon, Llodra, Clement, Benneteau... and on and on and on. And yet year after year that enormous streak of mental inconsistency that runs through French tennis gets them.

To be fair, Germany isn't exactly in its bestest tennis place ever at the mo, and they're playing without Tommy Haas. Their lynchpin at the mo is Kohlschreiber, and there's only so much he can do. But they're certainly not a sucky team, so this is a great result for France.

And I also want to shout out to the Czech Republic. They're effectively a two man team, but they brought it solidly at Davis Cup all last year and it looks like they're not going to stop this year. They smashed Belgium like a guitar. Berdych and Stepanek - whatever their flaws in ATP play, they get it done at Davis Cup.

That Time Again

It's that time again... Davis Cup. And why yes, since you asked, it is a really stupid idea to put it right before Indian Wells! What top notch participation that encourages. How clever, scheduling-wise! I bet everyone is so freaking thrilled.

Ahem.

Anyway, we might not be in the world group, but the Australia/Chinese Taipei tie is one I will follow with interest... and if Australia loses, I don't know what words there could possibly be to describe the embarrassment. Australia is without Hewitt - no shocks there - but Chinese Taipei is without its spearhead player also, with Yen-hsun Lu not playing.

Thus, if Australia does not win = humiliation for all!

Our singles players are Peter Luczak and Bernard Tomic, which is pretty respectable... though I can't help thinking that, with Luczak being our big gun, it might have been a good idea to hold the tournament on red clay rather than at Margaret Court Arena. I don't know that any of the players from Chinese Taipei are especially great claycourters and Luczak definitely is. But if you asked me to name even a single clay court in Australia, I would be coming up blank. Melbourne Park is definitely a better venue in that respect.

I do believe that one of the Chinese Taipei-an players is the dude that lost to Tomic in the final of the boys' AO a few years back. Now that could be an interesting grudge match. I don't know anything about him other than that, but Bernard should probably watch his step...

A Post of Very Little Content

So is it just me or is there big fat nothing going on in the tennis world this week?

Seriously, as far as I can tell, three tour level matches were played yesterday - three women's matches in Monterrey. None of them was very interesting and so I have thus nothing to say about them. Except that Daniela Hantuchova seems to be making a mini resurgence this season. Good for her.

Really, the biggest news is about who is or isn't playing next week, and even that isn't that exciting. Serena and Venus never play Indian Wells... which is so old hat that I don't think anyone's ever bothered writing about it this year. Dinara Safina is out with a back injury. (Is it terrible of me to hope that the back injury forces her to somehow change her service motion?)

And then, of course, Roger Federer is being all coy. Will he or won't he? I guess we'll see next week.

It's a sad world when there's no news and you manage to write a whole blog post about this lack of news...

Venus Rising

Welcome to post #701 on Tennis From The Backseat, for all Jodi's meandering tennis ramblings. Enjoy the ride.

Today we're talking Venus. Why? Because Venus is winning freaking everything at the moment, that's why. In fact, I would go so far to say that if you had to pick the most in form player on the women's tour at that very moment, it would be Venus. And that isn't something I say lightly, because I have really not been especially impressed with Venus over the last couple of years.

But one cannot deny the facts. Two tournament wins in two weeks - Venus can rightly be crownded eternal queen of Acapulco, in my book - as well as a win over some quality, quality opponents at the Billie Jean Cup. I mean, sure, it's an exo event, and if you had Venus vs Kimmie on a bigger stage, maybe the match would have gone a different way, but wins over Clijsters and Kuznetsova are, well, wins over Clijsters and Kuznetsova, and not something to be taken lightly.

The question is, however - how far is this run of awesomeness going to go?

We all know V isn't going to play Indian Wells, so the next time we see her in action will be in Miami. It is obviously very good for her to have a rest after these intense few weeks, but I will be interested to see how she performs in Miami. Is this just a mini hot streak - like the one she regularly goes on at Wimbledon? (It's not unfair to say that Acapulco is Venus's second Wimbledon, the amount of titles she's won there). Or is this form going to be carried across past Miami into the clay season?

In short, are we going to see a V who could do damage at Roland Garros?

I would like to think that we could, if only to shake things up a bit. Venus has never traditionally done that well on the red clay of Paris (except, as previously noted, that one time in 2002) and it would be interesting to see the dynamic if she suddenly did make a run at it. That, combined with the return of Henin... even in the WTA, we live in interesting times!

Factoids for 700

Hey, guess what?! This is the offical 700th post on Tennis From The Backseat. Yes, I have dribbled on and on and on about tennis and I still have more to say. I don't know how informative or insightful that might stuff might be, but I'm going to keep saying it nonetheless.

Onto the real business of the day - I've been so wrapped up in the phantasmagorical victory of Ernests Gulbis over the weekend (hurrah!) that I forgot about all those other tournaments. And there are some interesting things there, so let's get started.

Factoid #1: Venus Williams has won more clay court tournaments than any other active player except Justine Henin.

I don't have too much to say about that except whoda thunk? V's never made a huge impact at RG (except that year she went to the final) - with those kind of numbers, I find that surprising. V ain't just no grasscourt gal.

Factoid #2: Elena Dementieva plays too much tennis. She should not be losing to Kleybanova.

This is not news. No wonder she has never won a Slam.

Factoid #3: This is the first time ever Novak Djokovic has defended a title.

I don't know whether to class this under 'fluke', 'maturing player' or 'deeply troubling'.

Factoid #4: Juan Carlos Ferrero has still got it.

He may have lost in the final, but JCF has still got serious game. He's now ranked #14 in the world. What is this, 2004?

Changed Man

Oh yes he did.

OH YES HE DID.

I am disproportionately excited about Ernests Gulbis' maiden tournament win in Delray Beach. I know it's only one tournament. I know it's not a huge tournament. I know he might go on to do a fat lot of nothing...

...but this is so, so much better than anything else I have experienced while clinging to this Gulbis bandwagon by my fingernails.

I don't think we can underestimate the significance of this win for Gulbis. Something has clearly clicked in his brain, because things are going right again. There was an interesting stat in the ATP write up of this final - Gulbis did not win his tenth tour level match last year until Wimbledon, but this year, he's already at 10-4. He started off with the quarters in Doha, where he (understandably) lost to Federer, a couple of first round losses, including the AO, which was disappointing, but then semis in Memphis and now the title in Delray Beach. Excuse me for making assumptions, but this to me smells changed man.

He beat Karlovic in the final and he beat him good. When you're Ivo Karlovic, basically your job is to get the other dude to the breaker. There were no breakers today - Ernie beat him comprehensively in straights, two and three. When you're breaking a serve like Dr Ivo's, you've got some serious returning mojo going on. And he's tidied up those errors, and...

...look at me, gushing like Federer won another Slam. But this one is a real victory for me. Damn it, I knew Ernie could do it! Good on you, Ernie! Good on you!