Grand Slam Professional Tennis Predictions and Picks by Nick Bollettieri. US Open, French Open, Wimbledon, Australian Open » Davis Cup

Spain captures Davis Cup

Nick's Picks — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 14:57:46 +0000

For the first time in their history, Spain won the Davis Cup away from their home soil. Propelled by the great play of Feliciano Lopez and Fernando Verdasco, Spain upset Argentina in Buenos Aires to capture their third Davis Cup. Spain was without their best player, Rafael Nadal, but it didn’t matter.

Argentina opened up with a win, when David Nalbandian defeated David Ferrer in straight sets on Friday. It looked like things would continue to go their way when Argentina’s best player, Juan Martin Del Potro, won the opening set against Lopez in the second rubber. It wasn’t to be though as Lopez bounced back winning the next three sets and the match, 4-6, 7-6(2), 7-6(4), 6-3. This was a big upset, and proved to the the turning point.

Saturday means doubles in Davis Cup, and once again the Spaniards were too much. Lopez teamed with Verdasco to beat Agustin Calleri and Nalbandian 5-7, 7-5, 7-6(5), 6-3.

So, with Spain up 2-1 Argentina needed to win both rubbers on Sunday to come back and tack the match. They sent out Jose Acasuso to take on Verdasco. In a thrilling five-set match, Verdasco defeated Acasuso 6-3, 6-7(3), 4-6, 6-3, 6-1 to clinch it for Spain.

I think this just shows how deep the Spaniards are. They didn’t have Nadal, Ferrer lost his match, and yet somehow they still won against a very talented Argentine team in Buenos Aires! There are so many talented Spanish players, it is tough to keep up with them all!

2009 Davis Cup draw released

Nick's Picks — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 18:53:55 +0000

If the US wants to get back on top of the Davis Cup world it isn’t going to be easy. The 2007 Davis Cup championship team will host the team from Switzerland in the first round of the World Group Playoffs. That could be a very dangerous thing considering the Swiss team could be sporting Federer and Wawrinka in the singles matches and they may even team up to play doubles (like they did for the Olympics).

It is still way too far off to guess who is going to play, but it is fun to imagine. If the US gets its regulars back (Roddick, Blake, and the Bryan Brothers), they are capable of beating anyone. The fact that it is in the US will help, but anytime Federer is on the other side you never can be too sure.

These teams have met twice before with each side winning. The US won in 1992 in Texas and the Swiss team won in 2001 in Basle. Both teams have changed dramatically since then.

Other first round matches are:

Argentina vs. Holland
France vs. Czech Republic
Croatia vs. Chile
Israel vs. Sweden
Romania vs. Russia
Austria vs. Germany
Serbia vs. Spain

What match are you looking forward to?

Nadal beats Roddick, clinches tie for Spain

Nick's Picks — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 12:52:40 +0000

The USA Davis Cup team will not get a chance to defend their title, as they fell to Spain 4-1 in Madrid. After the US lost both of the singles matches on Friday, they went on to win the doubles match in five sets on Saturday to pick up one point. They then needed to win both reverse singles matches to move on. It wasn’t to be. In the first match, Nadal blew by Andy Roddick 6-4, 6-0, 6-4 to seal the deal.

Losing to Spain on clay in Madrid wasn’t unexpected. If the US would have won that tie it would have been a monumental upset, especially with the way Nadal has been playing this year and the fact that the US was without two of its best players. It will be interesting to see if Roddick, Blake, and the Bryan brothers come back and try again next year for Pat McEnroe or if a new crop of talent is introduced to the international competition.

The Spanish team will now Argentina, which snuck by Russia 3-2. After the Argentines won both singles matches on Friday, the Russians won the doubles match 8-6 in the fifth set. Davydenko then beat Nalbandian in the first reverse singles match to force it to a decisive fifth match. Juan Martin Del Potro stepped up to the challenge and beat Igor Andreev 6-4, 6-2, 6-1. Argentina will host Spain in the finals in what promises to be a very entertaining weekend of tennis, especially if Nadal and Del Potro continue to play at such a high level. Let’s just hope both guys are healthy and have enough energy to play in this contest.

Roddick suffers heartbreaking loss

Nick's Picks — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 18:06:48 +0000

One thing the US team couldn’t afford was to go down two points to the home team, Spain. Unfortunately, that is exactly what happened. After Querrey gave Nadal a test in the first match, Roddick gave it everything he had in the second match but couldn’t pull it out. David Ferrer defeated him 7-6(5), 2-6, 1-6, 6-4, 8-6 in three hours and seventeen minutes.

Sometimes the stats don’t tell the whole story. Roddick had 13 more aces, one fewer unforced error, a higher first serve percentage, won more points on Ferrer’s serve, had the same amount of winners, and broke the Spaniard three more times than Ferrer broke him. Incredibly that wasn’t enough. The difference in this match came down to one game. Ferrer broke Roddick at 6-6 in the fifth set and that was it.

Now, the American team faces an almost impossible comeback. They will take on a very tough and talented doubles team of Fernando Verdasco and Feliciano Lopez tomorrow without the best doubles team in the world: The Bryan Brothers. Instead, it will be Mike Bryan and US Open quarterfinalist Mardy Fish. If they can win that one and force this to tie to Sunday, they will have to beat Nadal and Ferrer on clay with Roddick and Querrey in the reverse singles matches. Not an easy task for even the best tennis player.

If the USA pulls this one out, it will truly be the “Miracle in Madrid!”

Nadal grabs lead for Spain

Nick's Picks — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 13:41:58 +0000

In the first match between the US and Spain in the Davis Cup semifinals, world #1 Rafael Nadal gave the Spaniards the lead. American Sam Querrey gave the US something to hope for as he took the first set off of Nadal 7-6(5), but he couldn’t maintain that play (especially on clay). Nadal won the next three sets to win the match 6-7(5), 6-4, 6-3, 6-4.

If you look at the stats from the match, one particular stat jumps right off the page: unforced errors. Nadal had 35 errors while Querrey had 74! When you are playing Nadal on clay in front of his home crowd, you cannot expect to have that many errors and win this match. Yes, Querrey did have 18 more winners and 16 more aces than Nadal, but the errors more than made up for it.

I don’t think coach and captain Pat McEnroe will be upset at all with Querrey’s performance. It would have taken a herculean effort to beat Nadal under these circumstances, and Querrey didn’t play that badly. They do need Roddick to beat Ferrer in the second match though, because if he doesn’t they will be in big, big trouble.

The defending champion US squad is without regulars James Blake (exhaustion) and Bob Bryan (injury). Mardy Fish will team with Mike Bryan to face Verdasco/Lopez in the doubles match tomorrow.

The other semifinal is between Russia and Argentina and is being played in Buenos Aires. The two singles matches today will pit David Nalbandian (ARG) against Igor Andreev (RUS) and Juan Martin Del Potro (ARG) against Nikolay Davydenko (RUS). Neither match has started as of yet.

US wins thrilling Davis Cup tie

Nick's Picks — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 13:51:18 +0000

The final scoreline may have read 4-1, but it was much closer than that. After Andy Roddick won the opening match against Michael Llodra in straight sets, things got very interesting for the defending champions.

James Blake took the court next against Paul-Henri Mathieu, and neither would be leaving the court for quite some time. Blake won the first set 7-6(5), lost the second 6-7(3), won the third 6-3, and lost the fourth 3-6. A fifth and deciding set was needed for this crucial match. It was Mathieu that made the big shots, as he went up 5-4 and was serving for the match at 40-15. It looked like the US was headed for a split of the first two matches. That was until Blake found his groove. The American saved two match points and went on to win the fifth set 7-5 (not that you could see it if you were watching live – thanks Versus!).

Much has been made over Blake’s five set record, but it seems as though that is all in the past. For him to come back and win a match like that is very impressive. He showed true guts, and that is just a testament to his competitive spirit.

So the American’s won the first two matches, and now the Bryan brothers just had to win the doubles to seal the deal. Much like Roger Federer, the Bryan brothers have become a victim of their own success. They had only lost once in Davis Cup play, and a win is just about expected from them every time they step on the court. It wasn’t to be though, as the French team of Llodra and Arnaud Clement (the same guys who beat the Bryan’s in the finals of last year’s Wimbledon) played an unbelievable match winning 6-7 (7), 7-5, 6-3, 6-4. I guess they are human after all.

Now, the American team turned back to its best player, Roddick, to get the deciding victory. The same can’t be said for the French team, which sent out Paul-Henri Mathieu (no slouch), instead of their best player, Richard Gasquet. The French #1 didn’t play in the first two matches because of blisters, and told coach Guy Forget he didn’t feel like he had a chance against Roddick because of the way the American was playing (he did however play against Blake in the meaningless final match). Roddick ended up winning the match 6-2, 6-3, 6-2 and is now 10-0 in clinching situations for the American Davis Cup team.

Roddick wasn’t broken once in his two matches, as he continues his recent run of success. He is going to need that kind of play if the US is going to get back to the finals. Their semifinal match will be on the road at Spain, which of course is going to choose clay as their surface. If the Spanish team features their two best players, Rafael Nadal and David Ferrer, that is going to be an extremely tough match for the US to win.

Speaking of Spain, they joined the US, Argentina, and Russia in the semifinals. The Spanish team defeated Germany 4-1 on the heels of a great five set win for the doubles pairing or Feliciano Lopez and Fernando Verdasco. Argentina went up 2-1 after the Saturday doubles match, and needed just one of the final two singles matches to go their way. They sent out David Nalbandian to take on Robin Soderling. Both players won their first matches, and you just had the feeling that this was going to be a tight match. Nalbandian was able to edge Soderling out 6-4, 1-6, 4-6, 6-4, 9-7! Finally, Russia will be back in the semis as they defeated the Czech Republic 3-2. The victory was sealed when Tomas Berdych rolled his ankle in the fifth set against Nikolay Davydenko and had to retire. Good break for the Russian team.

Both semifinal match-ups look very interesting on paper. We’ve got the US going to Spain and Russia traveling to Argentina. Many of the world’s top players could/should be in action for what promises to be another exciting Davis Cup weekend!

P.S. Did anybody see Andy Roddick’s new haircut? He was sporting a mohawk because of a bet he lost to his new fiance, Brooklyn Decker. If anybody has a picture of it, post a link! I couldn’t find one anywhere!

Roddick gives US the lead; Ferrer, Soderling win

Nick's Picks — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 19:38:20 +0000

American Andy Roddick kept doing what he has done best for the American Davis Cup team, win! He has now won eight consecutive Davis Cup matches, and hasn’t lost since the semifinals in 2006. Today he defeated Michael Llodra 6-4, 7-6(3), 7-6(5) to give the Americans a 1-0 lead.

James Blake will now take the court against Paul-Henri Mathieu in the second match of the day. Blake is 1-0 against Mathieu in his career, with that win coming last year at New Haven. If Blake could get this victory, that would put the US right where they want to be. Up 2-0 with the best doubles team in the world, the Bryan brothers, playing tomorrow. This has been the US team’s winning recipe for the last couple of years.

In other Davis Cup action, the Spanish team has gone up 2-0 on Germany. After Nadal won the opener against Nicolas Kiefer, David Ferrer came from behind to beat Philipp Kohlschreiber 6-7(3), 6-3, 6-4, 6-2. Things are looking very good for Spain.

Finally, Robin Soderling got Sweden on the board with a 6-0, 6-4, 6-1 trouncing of Jose Acasuso of Argentina. That tie is now even at 1-1 because David Nalbandian won the first match against Thomas Johanasson. It was an interesting decision to go with Acasuso over the higher ranked Guillermo Canas and Juan Monaco, and it didn’t pay off. It wouldn’t surprise me to see Canas or Monaco playing one of the reverse singles matches on Sunday.

Okay so to recap:

USA is up 1-0 on France
Russia and the Czech Republic are even at 1-1
Argentina and Sweden are even at 1-1
Spain is up 2-0 on Germany

Stepanek, Nadal get wins

Nick's Picks — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 15:57:35 +0000

With Marat Safin giving the Russians a 1-0 lead, the pressure was square on the shoulders of Radek Stepanek to get the Czech Republic back in to the “tie.” Stepanek, who trains at the NBTA, was able to handle that pressure and got a straight set victory over Igor Andreev 6-3, 6-2, 6-4. Now that the teams are tied, the doubles match tomorrow is going to be uber-important. Let’s take a look at the teams:

Nikolay Davydenko/Mikhail Youzhny vs. Lukas Dlouhy/Pavel Vizner - You have to give the edge here to Dlouhy/Vizner. These two guys are really doubles specialists, and up until this year they used to play doubles together. Looking at the doubles rankings, you can see what I am talking about. Vizner is the fifth ranked doubles player in the world and Dlouhy is #14.

While Davydenko and Youzhny are great singles players, they don’t play a whole lot of doubles. Davydenko has played two matches this year, and Youzhny 10. A win here for the Czech would be huge, considering this match is being played in Russia. I wonder if the Czech doubles team wins this match, will the Russians use Davydenko and/or Youzhny for the reverse singles on Sunday?

In Germany, Rafael Nadal got the first point on the board with a 7-6(5), 6-0, 6-3 over Nicolas Kiefer. This was expected. The best chance the Germans have at winning a point is Kohlschreiber beating Ferrer. And as a matter of fact, the two are playing now and Kohlschreiber is up a break in the first set. Let’s see if he can even this tie.

Stay tuned for more details throughout the day…

Safin notches huge win as Davis Cup play underway

Nick's Picks — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 13:59:45 +0000

Maybe Russian Davis Cup, Shamil Tarpischev, is smarter than I give him credit for! After questioning his decision to go with Marat Safin over Nikolay Davydenko or Mikhail Youzhny, Safin stepped up to the plate and got a big “W.” He beat Tomas Berdych 6-7, 4-6, 6-3, 6-2, 6-4. Not only did he win, but he came back from two sets down to do it! When was the last time Safin did that on a big stage? Answer: Never! That was the first time in his up-and-down career that he has come back from two sets down to win a match. Couldn’t have come at a better time for him. Maybe this will inspire him to win some matches on the ATP Tour, because he is a paltry 1-5 on the season.

Two of the other Davis Cup matches are underway as well, and the final one (US vs. France) will begin in about three hours. In Argentina, David Nalbandian won the first set against Thomas Johansson, and in Germany Rafael Nadal won the opening set against Nicolas Kiefer.

Stay tuned for updates throughout the day…

Gasquet out of Davis Cup

Nick's Picks — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 14:52:20 +0000

In another blow for the French Davis Cup team, Richard Gasquet will not play due to blisters. The French team is already without Jo-Wiflried Tsonga because of a right-knee injury, and now without Gasquet they are missing two of their best players. Now, they will ask Paul-Henri Mathieu and Michael Llodra to anchor the team. Here are the match-ups for the tie that begins tomorrow against the US in Winston-Salem, NC:

Friday
Andy Roddick (USA) v Michael Llodra (FRA)
James Blake (USA) v Paul-Henri Mathieu (FRA)

Saturday
Bob Bryan/Mike Bryan (USA) v Arnaud Clement/Michael Llodra (FRA)

Sunday
Andy Roddick (USA) v Paul-Henri Mathieu (FRA)
James Blake (USA) v Michael Llodra (FRA)