Davis Cup

[Annie]

Absolutely without a doubt, WTG Ivan ;D

[Annie]

Hewitt to miss Australia's Davis Cup tie with Swiss
2006-01-26 03:29:02 GMT (Reuters)





MELBOURNE, Jan 26 (Reuters) - Australia's Lleyton Hewitt will miss next month's Davis Cup first round tie with Switzerland as he nurses an ankle injury.

Hewitt hurt his left ankle during his Australian Open second round loss to Juan Ignacio Chela and although he finished the match, doctors have told him he needs to take a break to avoid any further damage.

"Despite rest and rehabilitation over the past week, Lleyton's ankle has not sufficiently recovered for him to be able to take to the court in preparation for the tie," Hewitt's manager Rob Aivatoglou said in a statement released by Tennis Australia on Thursday.

"Doctors have advised Lleyton that he risks further damaging the joint should he attempt to play in the short term."

Australia's non-playing Davis Cup John Fitzgerald said the team to play the Swiss will be announced next Tuesday. The tie will be played on clay in Geneva from February 10-12.

"It's most unfortunate that Lleyton has sustained an injury so near to Davis Cup and obviously we would have preferred to have him play in Geneva as he's always been a key member of the team," Fitzgerald said.

"His absence obviously opens up the door for someone new to step up to the plate for this important tie."

[lau]

admin said:

Hewitt to miss Australia's Davis Cup tie with Swiss

Here it was said that the fact that Tennis Australia didn´t make the AO have faster surface ,as Hewitt wanted, and didn´t give (I don´t know if for free or what) ticket to "The Fanatics" MIGHT have something to do with it......

[SAFINNO1]

Yeah Baby this is what i am talking about the Great Russian team who will lead their country to victory in the DC this year and unfortunately there is no Marat. He is not to be risked but the team is still great

Davydenko to lead Russia in Davis Cup v Netherlands

MOSCOW, Jan 26 (Reuters) - Australian Open quarter-finalist Nikolay Davydenko will lead Russia in next month's Davis Cup World Group first round tie against the Netherlands.

In the absence of injured 2005 Australian Open champion Marat Safin, Russia captain Shamil Tarpishchev kept faith in the same squad that lost 3-2 to Croatia in last year's semi-finals.

Tarpishchev also called up in-form Igor Andreev, Dmitry Tursunov and 2002 Davis Cup hero Mikhail Youzhny for the indoor tie from Feb. 10 to 12 in Amsterdam.

Davydenko advanced to the last eight at the Australian Open for the second year in a row before bowing out to world number one Roger Federer on Wednesday. Andreev made the third round at Melbourne Park and also reached the final at the Sydney International earlier this month.

"Unfortunately, Marat is still not fully recovered from his injury but I'm sure that he will join us in the next round if we beat the Dutch," Tarpishchev told Reuters on Thursday.

Safin, who has been troubled by a ligament tear in his left knee, has not played since losing in the quarter-finals of the Cincinnati Masters Series last August.

[Annie]

Dual purpose Ljubicic launches Croatia's defence
2006-02-07 02:00:48 GMT (Reuters)

By Martyn Herman

LONDON, Feb 7 (Reuters) - Croatia have had just two months to savour being Davis Cup champions. Now the hard work starts all over again when the World Group begins on Friday.

World number five Ivan Ljubicic was the inspiration behind his country's memorable run last year, culminating in a 3-2 victory in the final against Slovakia in Bratislava.

Croatia begin the defence of the trophy with an awkward tie in Austria and Ljubicic will again be pivotal to their hopes.

This time he has the added burden of being stand-in captain after the departure of Niki Pilic and Goran Ivanisevic's decision not to fill the vacancy.

The holders are top seeds for the 16-nation draw, which also features second seeds Slovakia's daunting trip to Chile, Germany hosting France and Switzerland taking on Australia.

Switzerland will be missing world number one Roger Federer for that tie in Geneva.

The imperious Federer is one of a number of high-profile absentees from the opening round, with world number two Rafael Nadal missing for Spain in Belarus and Lleyton Hewitt unavailable for Australia.

Ljubicic, who won 11 consecutive matches last year before losing to Dominik Hrbaty in the fourth rubber of the final, has started the new year in outstanding form, with two titles already under his belt and a first grand slam quarter-final.

On Sunday he further endeared himself to the Croatian public by winning the Zagreb indoor tournament, beating Austria's Stefan Koubek, a likely Davis Cup opponent, in the final.

Mario Ancic will be Croatia's second player on the clay in Graz while 17-year-old French Open junior champion Marin Cilic has been called up for the first time.

"If I face Koubek, I'm sure it will be a different match as the surface will be slower," Ljubicic told Croatian daily Jutarnji List. "However, if I serve like I did in Zagreb, I'm confident I'll win again."


FIRST TITLE

Three-times champions Germany have been outside the World Group for two years but with Tommy Haas and Nicolas Kiefer enjoying superb starts to the year, they will be favourites in Halle to oust France in only their second meeting in 50 years.

Former world number two Haas claimed his first title since 2002 on Sunday in Florida while Kiefer reached the Australian Open semi-final, losing to eventual champion Federer.

French number one Richard Gasquet, by contrast, has managed just one victory in four tournaments so far this year.

Australia, champions 28 times, will be playing their first away tie for three years and without Hewitt look ill-equipped to survive in Geneva, even if Federer is missing.

At number 96, Wayne Arthurs is the highest-ranked player in Australia's squad, which also includes Peter Luczak (116) and Chris Guccione (150).

Slovakia, without number two Karol Beck who is at the centre of doping allegations, played every tie at home on an indoor carpet last year. They will be in for a culture shock on the red clay of Rancagua where Chile include Olympic doubles champions Fernando Gonzalez and Nicolas Massu.

The United States have a comfortable-looking home tie against Romania in California although Andy Roddick will need no reminding that they fell at the first hurdle to Croatia last year when they also had home advantage.

World number three Roddick will be joined by James Blake and the Bryan brothers, Bob and Mike, the world's leading double pairing.

Elsewhere, Argentina face seven-times champions Sweden in Buenos Aires and 2002 champions Russia, still without the injured Marat Safin, travel to Amsterdam to play the Netherlands.

[Annie]

History in Halle as Germany and France face a rare meeting
They’re both members of the modern elite of the Davis Cup. Three times each they have lifted the cup in the last two decades. Yet Germany and France have played each other just once in the past 50 years.

That is about to change with the two nations meeting in what is arguably the most high-powered first round tie of the 2006 Davis Cup by BNP Paribas world group. With Tommy Haas, Nicolas Kiefer and Sebastien Grosjean all posting impressive showings at the Australian Open, the clash in the 12,300-seater Gerry Weber Stadium has taken on mouth-watering proportions, as the heirs to Becker, Stich and Kühnen take on the heirs of Noah, Leconte and Forget.

And yet, the team of Becker, Stich and Kühnen never faced the France of Noah, Leconte and Forget, despite being largely contemporaries in the late 1980s and early 90s. Just once since 1956 have the two nations met in tennis’s premier team competition. That was in 1996 in Limoges, when an understrength German side was crushed inside two days by a French team that went on to win the title that year.

With Michael Stich undergoing ankle surgery and Boris Becker suffering a respiratory complaint, Germany had to rely on David Prinosil and Hendrik Dreekmann for their singles. Both had posted superb wins over Switzerland’s Marc Rosset and Jakob Hlasek in the first round on their respective debuts, so their nominations in the singles were natural. Germany’s captain Niki Pilic created headlines by naming Becker, the Australian Open champion, in his squad of four, but at the draw he didn’t name Becker to play any of the matches.

After Cedric Pioline had beaten Prinosil in four sets, and Arnaud Boetsch had twice come back from a set down to beat the impressive but flagging Dreekmann in five, Germany needed something special in the doubles. In true El Cid style, off the bench came Becker to partner Marc-Kevin Goellner in the doubles. Suddenly there was life in the tie! But the grand maestro of German tennis looked pale and not fully healthy, he played a poor match, and the French combination of Boetsch and Forget won in three tight sets to leave German hopes smashed like a piece of Limoges pottery.

To find the previous meeting between the two nations you have to go back to 1956, when Robert Haillet and Paul Remy gave France a 2-0 lead on day one, a lead they extended to 3-0 when Remy partnering Marcel Bernard to victory in the doubles.

To find Germany’s last win you have to go back to 1938, to one of the most turbulent periods in German tennis history. The year before, Germany had reached the “inter-zone final” (effectively the semifinals – it was the final of the competition that didn’t include the reigning champions, who always got a bye into the next final), and had lost to the USA on a dramatic five-setter between Don Budge and Gottfried von Kramm. In early 1938 von Kramm was imprisoned on a trumped-up charge of homosexual activities, yet despite his absence Germany again reached the inter-zone final, the team of Henner Henkel and Georg von Metaxa beating the French in the Europe group semifinals at the Rot-Weiss club in Berlin on the way. Germany went on to beat Yugoslavia but lost the inter-zone final to Australia.

Germany’s only other victory over France in a 2-4 head-to-head came the first time the two nations played – and that too was historically significant. In 1913 the Davis Cup was expanded to a record seven nations. In the first round Germany faced France in Wiesbaden in the first Davis Cup tie not played on grass. France had the best player in Max Decugis, but he had to go five sets on the opening day in beating Friedrich-Wilhelm Rahe, and when an injury to Decugis contributed to him and Maurice Germot losing the doubles to Rahe and Heinrich Kleinschroth, the game was up for France, Germany winning when Decugis defaulted the first reverse singles.

So when the 2006 German and French teams meet in Halle for only the seventh time in 93 years, they will be creating their own piece of history. For the first time on German soil, they will not be playing on clay. Though the Gerry Weber Stadium is normally associated with grass for the Halle ATP event, the court spends 48 weeks of the year on palettes outside the arena so the venue can be used for other purposes. And for this second tie in the 12-year-old stadium (the first was Germany beating the Czech and Slovak Republics in 1993), a Rebound Ace hardcourt is being laid and the perspex roof will be closed throughout the weekend.

You wonder what von Kramm and the French musketeers would have made of it!


With all my love for the French team, I am with Germany on this one. If Germans win, they will have to come and play Russia in Moscow ;D ;D ;D ;D

[Tish]

lau said:

admin said:

Hewitt to miss Australia's Davis Cup tie with Swiss

Here it was said that the fact that Tennis Australia didn´t make the AO have faster surface ,as Hewitt wanted, and didn´t give (I don´t know if for free or what) ticket to "The Fanatics" MIGHT have something to do with it......

I think you may be right that he has got a bee in his bonnet with the AO tennis Australia officials...However he has signed up to play in the San Jose tourney a day after the davis cup, if he pulls out of that one then I believe the injury is more serious than we thought...
He has mad it clear as well that he will not allow his name to be used for promoting purposes...I will see if I can find the whole article and post it in Lleytons thread...Is there a thread...?

[Annie]

i think there should be somewhere

[Tish]

from todays daily telegraph

Don't write us off


February 07, 2006

DAVIS Cup spearhead Peter Luczak has a defiant message for critics ready to write off Australia's hopes against Switzerland - we won't let anyone down.

The Lleyton Hewitt-lookalike will lead Australia's campaign against Switzerland starting on Friday in Geneva and has revealed the determination within the team to defy their lowly rankings and stun the home side - and the critics.

Luczak is part of the most inexperienced team Australia have ever fielded, prompting Davis Cup great John Alexander to claim they represent a "black hole" in Australian tennis.

But Luczak believes Alexander's blunt assessment has done the team an enormous favour.

"You love it when people say that you've got no chance," Luczak told The Daily Telegraph from Geneva.




"All you want to do is go out and win and compete as hard as you can.

"It's almost nice knowing that just about everyone feels we don't have a chance."

Australia need Luczak to play like his absent idol in the first-round tie.

With Hewitt recovering from a jarred left ankle and Mark Philippoussis still unfit, Australia must rely on their most inexperienced Davis Cup team ever to maintain their unbeaten record against the Swiss.

Australia are 3-0 all-time against Switzerland in Davis Cup ties largely thanks to Hewitt, who pulled off amazing singles victories against current world No.1 Roger Federer in their past two meetings.

With Federer also out of the Davis Cup, the Australian team is quietly confidence of causing an upset on the indoor clay surface.

"With Federer now not playing it does put a little bit more pressure on ourselves, but at least we know we've got a decent chance of winning," Luczak said.

"I'd say we're pretty much a 50-50 chance now.

"Obviously with our best player out and their best player out it's an even match."

The biggest threat to Australia is rising Swiss star Stanislas Wawrinka, currently ranked 49th in the world.

Wawrinka was knocked out of the Australian Open in the second round in a tough four-setter against Argentina's world No.4 David Nalbandian.

"I've never played him before but the way Wawrinka played against Nalbandian does scare me a bit because he's a great player and he's got a great single-handed backhand and he's still young so he's on his way up," Luczak said.

However, the 26-year-old's form at the Australian Open suggests he can beat Wawrinka if Davis Cup captain John Fitzgerald selects him to play singles.

Luczak played above his 116 ranking to reach the third round in Melbourne last month, beating world No.24 Belgian Olivier Rochus along the way before going down to Germany's Tommy Haas.

"Anytime you can win a few matches in a major it gives you a bit of confidence," Luczak said.

"I'm on a bit of a high right now and hopefully I can run with it.

"Right now I just can't wait to start playing Davis Cup."

Luczak admits he's found inspiration from Hewitt after spending 10 days with the two-time grand slam winner last year but impersonation is not intentional.

"The cap backwards, I've always done that since I was a little kid but Lleyton did inspire me when I've practised with him a few times," Luczak added.

"The way Lleyton motivates himself and pushes himself even at practice is inspiring.

"I've been modelling my practices on Lleyton's."

Without Hewitt the key to upstaging the Swiss team is to put them under pressure on the first day.

"You'd like to be after the first day at least 1-1," Luczak said.

"If Chris Guccione or Wayne Arthurs or myself can pull off a good match against Wawrinko and get a two-match lead it would be unbelievable but we'd still be pretty happy with 1-1."


Oh we are optimistic aren't we!!!!!

[Annie]

Hey, optimism isn't a crime you never know without Federer ... Wawrinka is getting stronger but who knows what might happen

[Tish]

Yes that is when it is more exciting.......Lleyton may kick himself if he has made the wrong decision.....Only time will tell.....

Off topic: lights on auto timer have gone out sitting in the darkness....trying to type thank goodness for touch typing...

[Annie]

lol Tish, you're a maniac ;D ;D ;D

[jewell]

I think even GB would have a chance against that Aussie side and that's saying something...

[Annie]

JEWELL!!!!!!!!!!!!! Good to see you boy ;D

[jewell]

Nice to see you too.