Oh noooooo – the US needs this situation like they need a hole in the head. Talk about things falling apart. First Blake, even though I’m sort of glad he’s not playing — he’s burnt out; I feel Sam can give both Nadal and Ferrer a bit of a headache. Roddick has had wins over Ferrer and Nadal, except not on clay. The doubles situation is not as bad as it appears — one Bryan brother is still healthy and Mardy is pretty good in doubles. I’m hoping against the odds that the US can still win this tie; they’ll just have to envision a hardcourt instead of clay, and a stadium full of American supporters in their mind’s eye. Come on guys you can do it!! Said the little engine that could — I think I can, I think I can!!!!

September 16th, 2008 at 8:34 pm

“Coming on the heels of James Blake’s sitting out due to physical and mental exhaustion”

Come now. He couldn’t be more tired than Nadal?

Weak.

I have a feeling Pat Mac hasn’t been telling us the full story. Was it really Blake’s decision to sit it out, or PMac’s?

I don’t have a problem with Blake not bothering to go. Nadal didn’t go to the US last year after all (though I think they had a better shot on hard court than the US has on clay). But tiredness? I’m not sure I believe him. I think either he or Mac is being disingenuous. He may be tired, but he wouldn’t be the only one. If the US was hosting, he more than likely would be playing.

September 17th, 2008 at 3:14 am

I don’t doubt some of the explanations offered over time allow saving face, but Blake’s body language of late tells me that mental and physical exhaustion is a good possibility. I also think PMc would be receptive to a roster change, because Blake’s recent match results have not been encouraging. Querry, on the other hand, has a new-found confidence and appears to be on the rise. It seems like the team has as good a chance either way.

September 17th, 2008 at 10:13 am

I think Blake suffered a major let down after his Olympic loss for the bronze medal, which was evident by his body language during the USO. Overall, Blake has been on a decline over the past 4-5 months, and hopefully this rest will rejuvenate him. There is a positive side to all of the current problems — change can at times be a lifeline.

September 17th, 2008 at 10:27 am

U.S. Seizes Control of AIG With $85 Billion Emergency Loan

AIG is the sponsor of the upcoming tournament in Japan.

September 17th, 2008 at 10:34 am

Yes, I believe there’s truth to Blake’s tiredness too, even if there is a sliver lining in the cloud; I do think Querrey’s chances are better, particularly on clay, given his run at Monte Carlo this year.

But it’s the doubles team that is more daunting news for the champion American team. Too bad.

I’m sure they will all give it their all anyhow!

September 17th, 2008 at 10:46 am

great news for the anti-american bigots like Richard Vach and sean randall

September 17th, 2008 at 1:39 pm

Spain ought to win on clay no matter who the U.S. fields. Even if Nadal did not play, I think Spain would be favored on clay versus any squad the U.S. fielded unless the U.S. had an aggressive immigration policy with Argentina.

September 17th, 2008 at 2:29 pm

Sure Spain would win irregardless of who the US chooses because they are playing on their special surface, “clay” and in front of 24,000 of their home crowd. I’m surprised the Spanish DC didn’t also have their way with the choice venue for the match. They wanted anywhere else but Madrid, per their argument that Madrid favors the big servers, especially roddick. Seems like roddick can still get some legs to quiver. GO USA!!

September 17th, 2008 at 5:29 pm

Didn’t Nadal and his team members protest against playing in Madrid? Now he’s saying that it’s a special place to play.

September 17th, 2008 at 7:38 pm

Spain doesn’t have any doubles players, so the US should not be hampered by this. Even with one Bryan, it should be enough to win against anyone Spain plays for doubles.

“Didn’t Nadal and his team members protest against playing in Madrid? Now he’s saying that it’s a special place to play.”

As far as I know, it wasn’t Nadal that protested but Lopez and some other players. The high altitude affected ball bounce and speed perhaps. I doubt Nadal would be bothered either way by it, as long as it’s on clay.

24,000 is a big arena though. That is bigger than Arthur Ashe stadium, the biggest court in the world (despite Wimbledon’s claims) in tournament play. I’d like to see an aerial photo of this arena.

September 17th, 2008 at 7:55 pm

RZ
The Spanish players wanted to play at the see level and had some dispute with Munoz.The players said they have nothing against Madrid, but wanted Munoz’s resinganton. His appointment is now terminated and the dispute is settled. The arena is beautiful:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/telegraph/multimedia/archive/00979/davis_cup_1_979278c.jpg

Blake has played 64 matches compared to 47/48 of Roddick/Querrey. So perhaps they are more fresh. Besides Querrey played well on clay this year.
Bryan’s shoulder injury comes at a tough time for the US team. PMac is trying to stay optimistic by talking about fatigue and pressure…. Let’s see what happens on Friday.

btw, all matches start 10 am ET and will be shown on Versus in the US.

September 17th, 2008 at 8:05 pm

Giner
Verdasco/Lopez, play great together and have been playing as a team on several occasions. They will be more in sync with each other than Fish/Bryan (my guess).

I posted a photo of the arena above. It is a great venue. Must be nice to see.

September 17th, 2008 at 8:08 pm

On the bright side for Mac, he managed to get both Fish and Querry onto the team, appreciating their US Open efforts.

zola: they still aren’t specialists in doubles, but we’ll see how well Fish gels with Bryan. He might even be used for one singles match. He had the game to trouble Nadal, if he could keep it up for 3 sets.

September 17th, 2008 at 8:16 pm

Hey.. that’s obviously a bull ring converted into a temporary court. I was expecting it to be the Madrid Masters event with clay laid onto the hard court. Then again, I should have known better. That venue couldn’t host 24,000 people.

September 17th, 2008 at 8:18 pm

Giner,
I would love to see Fish or Querrey against Rafa on clay. It would be good to see how their hard court game will translate to clay.

September 17th, 2008 at 8:24 pm

RZ:

“Didn’t Nadal and his team members protest against playing in Madrid? Now he’s saying that it’s a special place to play.”

Absolutely. all of the DC Spanish players felt that they wouldbe at a huge disadvantage because Madrid favored the fast servers, and they specifically mentioned Roddick. I suppose Nadal is allowed to change his tune whenever he chooses to be politically correct. Can’t hide too much behind lack of English comprehension when you’re talking to the press in your own language.

I don’t like it that Robredo was pushed out again, so that the top 2 could play, but who said life was fair?

September 17th, 2008 at 8:46 pm

“Hey.. that’s obviously a bull ring converted into a temporary court. I was expecting it to be the Madrid Masters event with clay laid onto the hard court. Then again, I should have known better. That venue couldn’t host 24,000 people.”

It is a bull-ring that’s been converted, and, I remember reading that it accommodates 27,500 to be exact.

Munoz got fired because he wouldn’t budge on his choice of venue — plain and simply put, if he wanted to keep his job all he needed to do was kiss up to the psuedo-important people, which he didn’t. I like people who have and display character instead of the spineless jellyfish type who would sell their own brother down the tubes.

September 17th, 2008 at 8:58 pm

Tom Perrotta is calling Argentina to win the whole thing this year; his blurb is at ESPN’s website, if anyone’s interested. He gives 4 “reasons” why he thinks it’s their year.

I also read there that Cilic has some kind of nerve/facial injury so won’t be playing in Davis Cup. I wonder how one gets a facial/nerve injury like that? Maybe the neck? Through serving? Hmm.

September 17th, 2008 at 10:02 pm

Argentina or Russia would be hosting Spain, and no doubt they’ll pick a slick fast indoor surface to try to upend Rafa, Inc. But the Germans tried that same trick against Spain in the Springtime DC Quartefinal – and their reward was going home in straight matches. The Tennis Media Driven Myth is: fast courts will hurt Nadal (which it won’t). But Ferrer, Verdasco AND Lopez all play much of their best stuff on fast hard courts. Spain will hold it’s own just fine against either nation on any surface.

The US has almost zero chance this weekend. None of US team has any substantial accomplishments on clay. And Blake left, no doubt, because his best assets of serves and flat hitting are nullified by clay courts. Couldn’t you just picture Blake’s single-handed backhand matched up with Nadal’s forehand on clay???? Oy Gevald – would not have been pretty for old James. And while Querry had some success in Monte Carlo (but nowhere else on clay) his major weakness will be exploited ruthlessly: he doesn’t move well. On clay more than other surfaces, below-standard movement is a death knell – especially when you’re looking at Best of 5 Set matches. The US should be happy if they won 1 of the 5 matches and sincerely ecstatic if they win two.

And Von: I sincerely wanted to gently point out an error in one of your previous posts, and its one all of us have made at some point in life: there’s no such word as “irregardless”. The correct word is either regardless, or irrespective. But somewhere along the way someone made a hybrid out of those two words that managed to spread. But the hybrid isn’t a word. Anyway, just wanted to point that out.

September 17th, 2008 at 11:06 pm

Rich:

“And Von: I sincerely wanted to gently point out an error in one of your previous posts, and its one all of us have made at some point in life: there’s no such word as “irregardless”.”

Thank you for pointing out my error in the form of “irregardless.” However, there’s a method to my madness — I use it for emphasis, as in my post, wherein I wanted to emphasize, even though everything seems hopeless for the US, we still have a fighting chance, “irregardless’ of what our critics think of our DC chances — even to the point of being ridiculous and/or controversial. The following substantiates my use of the double negatives:

“Irregardless— Those who use it, including on occasion educated speakers, may do so from a desire to add emphasis. Irregardless first appeared in the early 20th century and was perhaps popularized by its use in a comic radio program of the 1930s.”

“Oy Gevald” — I suppose from your name “Vach’ you’re German? That, or you were a fan of Hogan’s Heroes, ‘Oy Gevald, Commandant”? :P

“The US has almost zero chance this weekend. None of US team has any substantial accomplishments on clay.”

Here’s where I’ll say ‘irregardless’ of what you think, the US will win the Spain v. US tie. Call me a dreamer, but we’ll pull off the upset. The DC team has beaten Austria and the Czech Republic on clay and nearly did the same with Russia in ’06 except for Tursunov in that tight 5 setter against Roddick. Can we do it, I’ll say. BUT, don’t hold me to it. I’ll probably NOT post for a few weeks from embarassment. Oi vey!

“What has David Nalbandian done for anyone lately?”

NADA, he also has 1,000 points to defend in Madrid and Paris MS tourneys. If he doesn’t, it will be bye, bye TMC and Roddick will move up to No. 7 in the ranking. Happy days are here again!

September 18th, 2008 at 12:14 am

That’s too bad for cilic. That face/nerve injury can be caused because of the sensitivity of a facial nerve. It usually goes away after a week or so, but it is annoying and it can come back.

I just read somewhere that the ball travels really fast in Madrid and makes it disficult for the players to adjust where they hit.

September 18th, 2008 at 12:17 am

Voicemale1:

My post to Richard Vach was meant for you. The last paragraph on Nalbandian was meant for Rich. Sorry about the mess up. The ‘OY Gevald’ pertained to Rich too (name), except he didn’t write it. anyway, maybe you were a hogan’s heroes fan. Talk about a big time cross-referencing mess-up. OI Vey!! Feel free to correct me anytime. i’m a big girl, I can handle it. I need bi-focals instead of regular glasses. Thanks. :P

September 18th, 2008 at 12:22 am

What happens in the case of a player who does not qualify for the TMC, but has points from the previous year’s TMC to defend? An answer anyone?

September 18th, 2008 at 1:11 am

“Can we do it, I’ll say. BUT, don’t hold me to it. I’ll probably NOT post for a few weeks from embarassment. Oi vey!”

One can only hope! I will show you how people actually mean what they say

The only way US is beating a Spannish team lead by “El Uno” and david ferrer with almagro, robredo and juan carlos and a huge army of crafty clay courters following, is if P-mac makes the donkey and his team members wear skirts and make them play against the spannish fed cup team.

I will change my name to “I like sissies is not a donkey” if US actually makes it to the final of the Davis cup.

The only thing interesting about this tie is if numero uno actually decides to save himself from another day’s wait by joining with verdasco/lopez to beat the US 3-0 instead of 3-1. How many sets will nadal lose in singles? NADA. donkey will keep making that donkey face he made when novak handed his behind gift-wrapped to him. Going to be an awesome weekend.

Go donkey! get massacred ruthlessly!

September 18th, 2008 at 1:38 am

Are you worried about donkey? he loses those points and falls even lowere in rankings. he is going to be out of top 10 quite soon.

his fiance will have to start doing her nude shoots to keep feeding his hungry cheetoz ass…..

September 18th, 2008 at 1:42 am

Come on “Roddick is a donkey”. dont you have any other things to do? first, it’s not funny. 2nd, you make nadal’s fan like me look bad! stop it!

dont misuse the freedom of expression that have been given to you malevolently. people will easily look down to you if you keep this kind of attitute towards other players. respeito!

September 18th, 2008 at 2:39 am

Von:

Thanks. From my point of view, “oy gevald” is a very Yiddish expression. It basically means “oh, the suffering”, loosely translated.

September 18th, 2008 at 9:25 am

Voicemale1:

You’re welcome! You didn’t answer my question, were you a Hogan’s Heroes fan? I love to watch the re-runs on TV Land. I suppose you are Jewish, hence the Yiddish words. I picked up quite a vocabulary of Yiddish words living and working among the Jewish people in New York, e.g., Mishpuca, schlepp, yenta, oy vey, etc. BTW, did my explanation of ‘irregardless’ seem plausible enough?

“From my point of view, “oy gevald” is a very Yiddish expression. It basically means “oh, the suffering”.”

It seems you strongly feel the US DC team will be in for some severe punishment. Perish the thought! They’re going to win, just trust me. :P “I will wear my heart upon my sleeve for daws to peck at.”

September 18th, 2008 at 9:58 am

Ezorra,
Everyone is responsible for his own deed. People attacking Roddick have nothing to do with Nadal fans just like fanatics attacking other posters have nothing to do with Roddick or his true fans.
Bullies and trolls will always be around. The best is to ignore them.Just scroll down.

On other boards there are moderators who notify the posters if they attack a player or a poster personally. I wish Tennis-x considers something like that.

September 18th, 2008 at 10:48 am

order of play:

Spain vs USA
R1 – R.NADAL (ESP) v S.QUERREY (USA)
R2 – D.FERRER (ESP) v A.RODDICK (USA)
R3 – F.LOPEZ / F.VERDASCO (ESP) v M.BRYAN / M.FISH (USA)
R4 – R.NADAL (ESP) v A.RODDICK (USA)
R5 – D.FERRER (ESP) v S.QUERREY (USA)

Argentina vs Russia
R1 – D.NALBANDIAN (ARG) v I.ANDREEV (RUS)
R2 – J.DEL POTRO (ARG) v N.DAVYDENKO (RUS)
R3 – A.CALLERI / G.CANAS (ARG) v I.KUNITSYN / D.TURSUNOV (RUS)
R4 – D.NALBANDIAN (ARG) v N.DAVYDENKO (RUS)
R5 – J.DEL POTRO (ARG) v I.ANDREEV (RUS)

It is a hard one for Querrey, but who knows, maybe his serve and the quickness of surface can help. But Vamos RAfa! Vamos Espana!

September 18th, 2008 at 10:53 am

Ezorra:

Thank you for speaking up with respect to the personal attack on Roddick and myself by the poster “Roddick is a donkey”, who IS a Nadal fan. I’m glad that you’re smart enough to see through the obvious.

September 18th, 2008 at 11:35 am

Von:

Yeah, the “irregardless” point you made I thought picked up on my idea that somewhere, sometime, someone decided they’d use it!

My “oy gevald” comment was to describe the scenario of Blake’s backhand having to play above his shoulders against the Nadal forehand. THAT would have caused James much suffering, I thought. That’s why Querry is there. They think his height will negate the Nadal topspin effect to the backhand. But Nadal will be happy to trade forehands with Querry too. Since Nadal’s movement is better than Querry’s, especially on clay, the only Querry weapon (serve) will be blunted by the surface. Every match still has to be played, that’s true. So I won’t rain on your parade of hope for the US Squad. Stranger things have happened :).

September 18th, 2008 at 11:52 am

Voicemale1:

“Every match still has to be played, that’s true. So I won’t rain on your parade of hope for the US Squad. Stranger things have happened :).”

Thank you. Beau geste, n’est ce pas? Translation: a beautiful gesture, isn’t it? — for not wanting to rain on my parade of hope. :) Tomorrow is “the” day.

September 18th, 2008 at 12:07 pm

“What has David Nalbandian done for anyone lately?”

Now, if Nalbandian HAD done something for someone lately, then Nalbandian admirers – of whom I am one – would start to get worried. So often we have purred with satisfaction as Nalbie does his stuff as only Nalbie can,gone on to mutter out of the corners of our mouths that at last this is it, and proceeded to fall flat on our faces as world # 543 wipes the floor with Nalbie in his next match.

The converse (alas) is not true. i.e., just because Nalbandian has been playing badly doesn’t mean he is going to suddenly start playing well. As a matter of fact, whether Nalbie has been playing well or been playing badly, the chances are he is going to be playing badly next time up. Only one thing is certain: Nalbandian is a player of the very highest class. Therefor, at some time or other, he will deliver. Nobody knows when, least of all himself. And when he does, watch out everybody, including Nadal.

September 18th, 2008 at 2:55 pm

“What happens in the case of a player who does not qualify for the TMC, but has points from the previous year’s TMC to defend? An answer anyone?”

The ATP entry system sheds the previous year’s TMC ranking points of ALL the eight players at the end of the current year’s ‘regular’ season.Therefore,the 2007 TMC points will be removed on the Monday following the 2008 ams Paris event which happens to be the last event of the ‘regular’ atp season.It obviously follows that no 2007 TMC points will be defended-irrespective of who qualifies and who doesn’t-at the 2008 TMC event.All qualifiers can only gain “fresh” points for their efforts at the TMC.
ATP makes the TMC an exception to its 52-week rolling system because it is confined to only the top eight players of the year engaging in a round-robin cum knock-out format.It is not a ‘regular’ event in the normal sense of the term because the basis of qualification is the race standing and not the entry ranks.There is a theoretical possibility that the race and ranking position may not be identical at the end of the regular season if TMC points aren’t removed then and there i.e. after Paris(this identity may also not come about for other reasons in a different context).It will be an anomalous situation if the hottest eight players of the year-based on race- qualify but some player other than those eight is still ranked number eight for instance.This could happen if he had a lot of TMC points from last year’s event.

September 18th, 2008 at 3:32 pm

Why won’t Fish play for singles? Why Querrey?

September 18th, 2008 at 3:48 pm

Why won’t Fish play for singles? Why Querrey?

Most likely due to the fact that Fish’s game doesn’t translate well to clay. He doesn’t move very well on clay and his flat groundstrokes and big serve are much less effective and he doesn’t have the heighth to deal with Nadal’s high bouncing topspin off of the backhand side like Querrey does. Also Querrey was impressive against Nadal in New York so the most recent H2H is weighed more. Finally Querrey has shown more interest in playing on clay as he was the ONLY American to show up for Monte Carlo.

September 18th, 2008 at 4:14 pm

Vuclan, I agree.
Fish’s game suits the hard courts better. At least Querrey has the height advantage, the big serve and the clay experience. And it seems the thin air in Madrid is working against the Spaniards.
Still, I hope he cannot trouble Rafa.

September 18th, 2008 at 6:13 pm

Noel:

Thank you for the answer to my question. Good for ATP to have both the foresight and hindsight to erase the points and not carry them over. If it were the latter then many a top 8 player who wouldn’t qualify for this year would be in the awful position of losing those points, which would further send their ranking into the pits. My concern is for a couple of the Top 10 players in the ranking who are not in the race and I would hate to see their ranking dip possibly throwing them out of the Top 10 because of not making the cut for the TMC.

September 18th, 2008 at 8:23 pm

order of play:

Spain 0 0 USA
R1 – R.NADAL (ESP) v S.QUERREY (USA)
R2 – D.FERRER (ESP) v A.RODDICK (USA)
R3 – F.LOPEZ / F.VERDASCO (ESP) v M.BRYAN / M.FISH (USA)
R4 – R.NADAL (ESP) v A.RODDICK (USA)
R5 – D.FERRER (ESP) v S.QUERREY (USA)

September 18th, 2008 at 9:19 pm

Voicemale1 Says:

“Argentina or Russia would be hosting Spain, and no doubt they’ll pick a slick fast indoor surface to try to upend Rafa, Inc. But the Germans tried that same trick against Spain in the Springtime DC Quartefinal – and their reward was going home in straight matches. The Tennis Media Driven Myth is: fast courts will hurt Nadal (which it won’t). But Ferrer, Verdasco AND Lopez all play much of their best stuff on fast hard courts. Spain will hold it’s own just fine against either nation on any surface.”

In the case of Argentina, it’s unlikely they will pick a fast court. The clay helps their guys as much as it helps Spain. To be fair, David Nalbandian is a good fast court player, and so is JMDP, but that hasn’t always been the case for Argie players. I don’t know if they’ve EVER hosted someone not on clay.

Russia is more well rounded. As long as it’s not grass, they can play on courts of any speed. They are more likely to pick fast courts against Spain than Arg is.

“The US has almost zero chance this weekend. None of US team has any substantial accomplishments on clay. And Blake left, no doubt, because his best assets of serves and flat hitting are nullified by clay courts. Couldn’t you just picture Blake’s single-handed backhand matched up with Nadal’s forehand on clay???? Oy Gevald – would not have been pretty for old James. And while Querry had some success in Monte Carlo (but nowhere else on clay) his major weakness will be exploited ruthlessly: he doesn’t move well. On clay more than other surfaces, below-standard movement is a death knell – especially when you’re looking at Best of 5 Set matches. The US should be happy if they won 1 of the 5 matches and sincerely ecstatic if they win two.”

The US are the underdogs, but I wouldn’t say they have almost zero chance. It depends on how big an effect the altitude has on the speed of the ball. If it plays almost like a slow hard court, I’d say they have an outside chance. The doubles match will be key for the US.

Argentina and Spain have not been defeated at home in a very long time. But these two have the best chances of any world team of defeating the other in an Away tie. Russia is worth considering also. But to beat a strong clay specialist host is only likely to be done by another strong clay specialist team. The US have won Away ties on clay against strong nations like this before, but the US also used to be a lot stronger on clay than they are now..

“And Von: I sincerely wanted to gently point out an error in one of your previous posts, and its one all of us have made at some point in life: there’s no such word as “irregardless”. The correct word is either regardless, or irrespective. But somewhere along the way someone made a hybrid out of those two words that managed to spread. But the hybrid isn’t a word. Anyway, just wanted to point that out.”

I noticed this too. It’s a strange word and isn’t in the dictionary, but I guess I’m too polite to point it out to her. XD

September 19th, 2008 at 12:21 am

If let say, any of the team win the first three rounds, are they going to continue for the 4th and 5th?

September 19th, 2008 at 12:40 am

Ezorra:

They have to play all five (5) rubbers [ir]regardless (emphasis added for Voicemale1) :P , of who wins the first three (3) live rubbers. For the dead rubbers most teams will use a doubles player to play the singles match. There’s a hidden/unspoken generosity from some teams to allow the losing team to win at least one match. Last year the US used one of the Bryans (doubles) to play against Robredo; the US was leading 4-0. Robredo won that match and Emilio Sanchez was so thankful and happy that he kissed the ground after the win. However, some teams are greedy and want to win 5-0. It’s just stats. I personally don’t feel there’s a need to humiliate another team winning by a shut-out. But that’s just my philosophy in life – live and let others live.

September 19th, 2008 at 12:57 am

“I noticed this too. It’s a strange word and isn’t in the dictionary, but I guess I’m too polite to point it out to her. XD”

too polite, eh? LOL. I gave my reason for the use of that word and mentioned I used it for emphasis as to how strongly I believe in the courage of my statement that the US will win, regardless of whether they played against spain on clay or ice. I’m not one for correcting anyone’s grammar Mr. ‘indefin[a}tely’, but I’m big enough to accept a criticism. And, you’re so wrong, Webster’s World Disctionary has ‘irregardless’ listed, with an asterisk next to it and the meaning: “a nonstandard or humorous usage”. I’m one who loves humor and emphasis and that word ‘irregardless’ was carefully chosen for emphasis to depict the ludicrousness/hilarity of my remarks that I feel the US WILL WIN.

I’m a little daft, so please explain to me what “XD” means. Thanks. BTW, NEVER end a sentence with a preposition, but I’m too polite to point that out,too. :P

September 19th, 2008 at 1:17 am

thanks Von

September 19th, 2008 at 2:10 am

To find “versus” in your area type your zipcode here:
http://affiliate.zap2it.com/channelfinder/versus/

Ezorra,
3/5 is enough for a team to win. the rest becomes dead rubbers and they are usually played as best of 3 instead of best of 5.

September 19th, 2008 at 2:34 am

Giner
I think Argentina would choose a fast surface. Nalbandian won Rafa twice last year on indoor fast surfaces. I am not sure if he can do it on clay.

I think even Russia would choose a fast surface. Spanards are as good as Argentines or Russians on clay if not better.

September 19th, 2008 at 2:37 am

thanks zola…

September 19th, 2008 at 2:53 am

Ezorra,
no problem. :)

**********
on the davis cup site, it shows that versus will start at 12 ET ( instead of 10 am ).

Also tennis channel shows the matches.
Apparently the matches start 12 noon Madrid time (in 3 hours!). So I guess they will be shown here with delay. The complete TV program for USA and other countries is here:

http://www.daviscup.com/ties/tvschedule.asp?tie=100010173

September 19th, 2008 at 3:15 am

someone has posted this link in tennis.com for Roddick-Ferrer match:
http://www.justin.tv/muchodeportestv

I am watching it right now.

Bad idea for Versus to show the matches with delay!

September 19th, 2008 at 10:20 am

There are links to Murray’s match as well as Nalbandian vs. Andreev at that same website if anyone wants to catch a bit of everything!

September 19th, 2008 at 10:29 am