Don't Look Now, Pat

For the United States, which features Andre Agassi and Andy Roddick, battling tiny Croatia in a home Davis Cup tie may seem like a gimmie, but hold your horses: Only one player besides Roger Federer has been in three ATP finals this year—the guy Federer has beaten each time, Ivan Ljubicic.

Did I forget to say “Croatia’s” Ivan Ljubicic?

There must be something toxic, especially to the legions of blissfully ignorant if well-intentioned American fans who wouldn’t know Croatia from Malaysia, about the name “Ivan.” You want your kid to grow up to be the tennis player nobody ever roots for, name him Ivan (Adolf or Saddam might work, too). Remember that other fountain of charisma, Ivan Lendl?

This will make the 6-foot-4 mad-bomber Ljubicic (who will probably share the singles foxhole with Mario Ancic—it’s funny, the lengths some folks will go to avoid the name “Ivan”) especially dangerous in Davis Cup. He’s used to being the bad guy and responding with the ultimate crowd silencer—an ace, or a service winner that leaves a red welt on his opponent’s forehead.

As Ljubicic said in Dubai: “The last two weeks … gives me a lot of confidence. The crowds were great. Usually I don't have crowds on my side, but here it’s been fantastic. Here the crowds like me.”

Ivan and Mario are capable of giving Andy and Andre all they can handle. We all know how key the doubles can be in Davis Cup as well, and here’s what Mario had to say about that: “We can play great doubles. We won the bronze in Athens. We reached the quarterfinals at the U.S. Open, and a couple of times we played the Bryan brothers and it was a really tough match. It’s going to help if we have a point on Friday. It's going to be a tough tie. We are going to try to make a surprise.”

And remember, it’s not like Carson, Calif., is known for its hostile, bullfight-grade crowd.

It’s never as easy as it looks, is it?