14-11-2007 Tennis Betting - US Team Has Right Mentality for Davis Cup

Patrick McEnroe, became the 38th US Davis Cup captain in 2000 succeeding his more illustrious brother, John, who resigned after a fruitless 14 month spell with the team. Pat feels that his team has a group mentality that will make all the difference, built around anchor-man, Andy Roddick.

This season has seen Roddick resurgent under coach, Jimmy Connors, consolidating his top-five ITP ranking, and he seems to relish the pivotal role he plays in representing his country in the Davis Cup.“I’m so proud to be part of this team. I wouldn’t trade this team for any in the world…” Roddick said.

The only low points for Roddick this season were the hamstring problem suffered earlier in the year and the knee injury which forced him to pull out of the Madrid Masters in October. The US team would certainly be dramatically weakened by his absence, having followed the same formula throughout the World Group knock-out, with Roddick and James Blake playing the singles matches, and the Bryan brothers taking care of the doubles match.

The US lifted the Davis Cup when they last hosted the final in 1992, with an all-star team of Agassi, Sampras, Courier and McEnroe (John), and though this side may not have the same individual quality, it is stronger than the sum of its parts.

The Stars and Stripes cruised through the early rounds of the Davis Cup with consecutive 4-1 victories, during which Andy Roddick has won all his five matches, dropping just one set. The American’s specialist doubles pairing of twins, Bob and Mike Bryan, boast identical statistics. The Bryan’s may not be house-hold names as individuals, but together they make a formidable partnership. They have the unique telepathic understanding of twins and the perfect left/right combination for doubles. The right-handed Mike is 6”3, while the left-handed Bob is 6”4 giving them awesome serving power; together they have won four Grand Slams doubles titles, including the Australian Open in 2007.

The final component of the team is top-ten ranked, James Blake, who’s disappointing year turned around when reaching finals on the North American hard-court circuit, in Los Angeles and Cincinnati. He is however, yet to have a career defining moment and his weakness in big five-set matches (the format here) is a real concern, with (at the time of writing) a 1-10 record that is the worst ever for a top ten male tennis player. Finally getting the monkey off his back in the second round of this year’s US Open may have helped, but doubts must remain as to whether he can be relied upon when it really matters.

The last meeting of these nations - in the 2006 semi-finals – was settled by the longest final set in World Group history. Dmitry Tursunov scored an epic five set win over Roddick ending 17-15 in the last set. That was however achieved in Moscow, on clay - as opposed to Portland’s fast hard court surface - and was Russia’s first win over the US.

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