The Unpredictable Two

by Pete Bodo

In previewing the Davis Cup semifinal matchups, the performance of two not-always-reliable competitors stood out as potential pivotal matches, capable of ensuring a dramatic finish—or a pro forma advance by the favorites, France and Czech Republic. Between them, France was nearly a prohibitive favorite, while the Czechs looked as if they might exploit the fatigue of Novak Djokovic to snatch the tie in Serbia.

The unpredictable two were the Czech, Tomas Berdych and the flamboyant Frenchman, Gael Monfils. One of them—Gael the Entertainer—played with a firm hand and took most of the air out of the France vs. Argentina tie by handling Davis Cup stalwart David Nalbandian with relative ease. Berdych, however, faltered, losing to Janko Tipsarevic.

As a result, France is up 2-0 and Serbia and the Czech Republic are all square at 1-1. Given Serbia's proficiency in doubles (Nenad Zimonjic is one of the world's elite, dedicated doubles players), the tie in Belgrade seems headed for an explosive, entertaining ending—should, but not necessarily only if, Djokovic has recovered from gastroenteritis sufficiently to play the pre-destined battle of the No. 1s on Sunday. Even if the Czechs manage to steal the doubles, that potential Djokovic vs. Berdych match shapes up as one of the most potentially critical Davis Cup rubbers of the year.

Further south, in our own hemisphere, The U.S. is deadlocked with Colombia at 1-1, following the Davis Cup nightmare visited upon Sam Querrey, who never got his game going and fell in straight sets to Santiago Giraldo. That certainly took some of the edge off the excellent effort Mardy Fish put in against Alejandro Falla to put the U.S. up 1-0. And we all know it's tough to cut with a dull knife.

The intriguing subtext here involves the go-to doubles squad of the last decade for the U.S., twins Bob and Mike Bryan. U.S. captain Pat McEnroe had some difficult thinking to do as the tie approached. The U.S. had three quality, more or less equally successful singles players on hand—all of whom can also play excellent doubles. So increasing his options in singles, knowing that either Fish, Querrey or John Isner could be pressed into doubles service, appealed to cap'n Mac. And when McEnroe looked at the doubles potential of Colombia, he saw little to keep him from taking a gamble on leaving the Bryan brothers at home, despite their status as money in the bank. The Bryans are 17-2 in Davis Cup doubles. Pat's brother John McEnroe set the high water mark for U.S. doubles, going 18-5 with a variety of partners (14-1 with Peter Fleming), which gives you a pretty fair idea of just how reliable the freres Bryan have been.

As I write this, rookie Ryan Harrison and John Isner are still penciled in to play the doubles, a winnable match for almost any squad against the obscure pairing of Robert Farah and Carlos Salamanca. Farah is a mystery guest by any standard—even the official ITF Davis Cup website has scant little to tell us about him. But that's why godot made Core Tennis, right?

Our U.S. captain is certainly riding off into the sunset with flair, but the doubles strategy may not be as big a gamble as it may appear.