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Post by Anne on Sept 10, 2008 20:41:42 GMT 3
yea i wont get too worried about the line up until we see the OOP lol  as for the pic - i know we all say it, but his hair has grown so quickily  lol we shall be out of crew cut phase soon! Sabz, which pic are you referring to? I can't see any.  If Marat, like OS mentioned, is definitely going no matter he is playing or not. I'd say, you always impress me, Big Yin, knowing you have to fly god-knows-how-many hours later on to Thailand. It's very very tiring. (I remember one time he was asked whether he would go to Argentina to play some tourney. He answered no, it's too long a trip. -something like that- ) Good luck on DC and hope he will stay refreshed to play Thailand open. Thanks to all who posted related info on DC semis.  I posted a pic in my post before.. i just found out that it was from the final 2006! Sorry about that.. and yes its impossible that his hair grows that fast hhaa! |
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Post by Natasha on Sept 10, 2008 23:07:57 GMT 3
lol i was gonna say that pic looks old, glad you cleared it up well i cant see marat flying just to be a cheerleader, he will play, Tarpi is just playing mind games again  |
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Post by Anne on Sept 10, 2008 23:12:05 GMT 3
lol i was gonna say that pic looks old, glad you cleared it up well i cant see marat flying just to be a cheerleader, he will play, Tarpi is just playing mind games again Exactly, although we can't say for sure. I don't think Marat would go to cheer for them all the way to Argentina, risking a jetlag and so on at the Thai tournament! |
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Post by sabz on Sept 10, 2008 23:12:22 GMT 3
Sabz, which pic are you referring to? I can't see any. If Marat, like OS mentioned, is definitely going no matter he is playing or not. I'd say, you always impress me, Big Yin, knowing you have to fly god-knows-how-many hours later on to Thailand. It's very very tiring. (I remember one time he was asked whether he would go to Argentina to play some tourney. He answered no, it's too long a trip. -something like that- ) Good luck on DC and hope he will stay refreshed to play Thailand open. Thanks to all who posted related info on DC semis. I posted a pic in my post before.. i just found out that it was from the final 2006! Sorry about that.. and yes its impossible that his hair grows that fast hhaa! ;D ;D ;D haha good to know! a bit worrying if his hair grows THAT fast! |
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Post by maryb on Sept 12, 2008 0:38:08 GMT 3
I'm gonna miss most of DC weekend - I'll be up in Pitlochry hanging around a fish ladder watching the salmon leaping! 8-)Sad, but true. I'll also be at the theatre taking in the rep season ... and the hotel doesn't have SKY!!! That's the countryside for you! God bless normality ... we should all get back to nature. Would remind us of our place in the scheme of things ... bottom of the rung as far as I'm concerned every time I read a newspaper or listen to the news ...
But, I'll check out the website, so I'll expect you guys to have DC updates waiting for me.
That's assuming I can get the mobile signal ... the mountains and the deer will have probably got in the way of the mast ... ;D
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Post by maratsmaiden on Sept 12, 2008 3:26:32 GMT 3
Yeah, there seems to be a LOT of confusion about this Davis Cup team... here's an article I found today, written on the 9th: Tennis-Russia call up newcomer Kunitsyn for Davis Cup semi Tue Sep 9, 2008 11:57am BST Email | Print | Share | Single Page | Recommend (0) [-] Text [+] MOSCOW, Sept 9 (Reuters) - Russia captain Shamil Tarpishchev has called up Davis Cup newcomer Igor Kunitsyn for this month's semi-final tie against Argentina in Buenos Aires. The 26-year-old Kunitsyn, ranked number 76 in the world, replaces Mikhail Youzhny, who has not regained top form after missing the U.S. Open with a neck injury. Tarpishchev also included world number six Nikolay Davydenko, 20th-ranked Igor Andreev, Dmitry Tursunov (26) and Marat Safin (39) for the Sept. 19-21 tie on clay. Tarpishchev has not named the alternate: "We'll see how everyone is doing before picking the four guys for the tie," he said. Russia, who reached the final last year, are bidding for their third Davis Cup title after winning in 2002 and 2006. (Reporting by Gennady Fyodorov; Editing by Sonia Oxley) uk.reuters.com/article/tennisNews/idUKL916557120080909 |
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Post by Natasha on Sept 12, 2008 14:09:24 GMT 3
I think its Tarpi being Tarpi, confusing the opponents, they would all need to fly to Agentina and gumy will to as he has family, makes sense.
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Post by jenhatter06 on Sept 12, 2008 19:29:06 GMT 3
Davis Cup continues golden year in tennis 2008 is proving a golden year in tennis. Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal have taken their rivalry at the top of men’s tennis to new heights with their Wimbledon final, they joined with the Williams sisters in winning gold medals at a truly memorable Olympic tennis event, and a wonderfully competitive US Open has just broken many of its previous records. The Davis Cup by BNP Paribas is also contributing to this stellar year. The beauty of the competition is that it can sometimes throw up some wonderfully unexpected stories – like Croatia’s victory over the USA in the 2005 first round which was a stepping stone to the country’s first Davis Cup title nine months later – but this year the four leading team tennis nations of the current decade have all made it to the last four, promising a high-quality denouement to the competition. After years of underachievement, Spain has finally become a Davis Cup heavyweight since the turn of the century. Its ecstatic victory over Australia in the 2000 final in Barcelona’s Palau Sant Jordi seemed the logical culmination of Spain’s increasing dominance of the world’s top 100. That dominance has increased throughout this decade, and so has Spain’s impact on the sport’s top team competition. After a final in 2003, which the Spaniards lost to an Australian team enjoying the last gasp of a now faded generation, Spain won its second title in 2004 in what was Nadal’s breakthrough year. In his debut Davis Cup tie, the 17-year-old Mallorcan, still 16 months short of his first French Open title, won a live fifth rubber to see a weakened Spain through in the Czech city of Brno. In retrospect it seems strange that his selection over Juan Carlos Ferrero to play singles in the final against America was something of a shock, but in beating Andy Roddick on the opening day, Nadal put Spain out of reach and allowed for wild celebrations when Carlos Moya beat Roddick to seal the title in front of 27,200 spectators in Seville. Spain’s opponents in the up-coming semifinals are Davis Cup heavyweights by any standards. The USA’s win over Russia in Portland last December was their 32nd title, but only the second since 1995. Yet the Americans have been major players in the competition throughout this decade under the captaincy of Patrick McEnroe, who took over after his brother John’s three-tie reign ended in a 5-0 defeat to Spain in the 2000 semis. The younger McEnroe has nurtured a team that has posted five semifinal appearances in eight years, largely with the same team. In his first tie as captain he gave a debut to Andy Roddick, and in 2003 overcame his initial reluctance to pick a specialist doubles pair by selecting the Bryan twins, who have since gone on to become one of the Davis Cup’s greatest pairings. Although he is missing James Blake for the visit to Madrid, there’s no question the American squad is now made up of players who revel in the team variant of this very individual sport, a factor which has allowed them to stick with the best despite not having the depth of talent available during the 1990s. Russia can also look back on five semifinals this decade. It has not had the depth of talent to choose from that Spain and Argentina has, but has used its half-dozen world class players to great effect to win ties in which it started as underdog. The best example came in the 2007 first round when Marat Safin and Igor Andreev beat Chile on the clay of Santiago in the absence of Russia’s other glamorous names.
The mastermind behind Russia’s success has been Shamil Tarpischev, the wily captain who was once a government minister. He has done deals with his players to ensure they take breaks from certain ties in return for shouldering the burden in others. It has led to two titles for Russia, both won on live fifth rubbers – Mikhail Youzhny’s coming-out party against the luckless Paul-Henri Mathieu in 2002, and Marat Safin’s triumph over José Acasuso on home soil in 2006.Argentina finds itself in a similar position to where Spain was 10 years ago. It has been a golden era for Argentina’s men in terms of populating the world’s top 100, and that has meant notable individual triumphs, headed by Gaston Gaudio’s French Open title in 2004 when three of the four semifinalists were Argentinian. But it has never turned that success into Davis Cup dominance, and has just one final (Moscow 2006) to show for its five semifinals this decade. In a country mad about football (soccer), Argentina’s players know the way to their sports fans’ hearts is via success in team competitions. That perhaps explains why Argentina has developed such an impressive home record in the Davis Cup by BNP Paribas, even this year when the country has done very little on the tour outside Juan-Martin del Potro’s 23-match unbeaten run over recent weeks. David Nalbandian is the torchbearer of the team – he has never lost a Davis Cup match, singles or doubles, on home soil, and his relatively poor year on the tour could all be because his focus is on the one competition that really matters to the Argentina sporting public. It would be disrespectful to focus so much on Spain, USA, Russia and Argentina as to detract from the titles won this decade by France (2001), Australia (2003) and Croatia (2005). But in terms of Davis Cup consistency, the big four have accounted for 20 of the 36 semifinalists since 2000. They are the dominant nations of the current era, and as such promise not only superb semifinals and a final, but also guarantee that the 2008 champion nation will be a very worthy one. www.daviscup.com/news/newsarticle.asp?articleid=14638
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Post by Anne on Sept 13, 2008 0:02:40 GMT 3
Nice read, thanks Jen.
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Post by Natasha on Sept 13, 2008 2:14:05 GMT 3
no marat  |
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Post by SAFINNO1 on Sept 13, 2008 17:29:16 GMT 3
12.09.08 Marat News
Marat will not be going to Argentina for Davis Cup. He needs to keep getting points before the end of the year and he felt the trip from Buenos Aires to Bangkok would be very long and tiring and could make it difficult for him to play well in Bangkok in order to get points. He talked to Shamil Tarpischev and asked to be released from the team for Davis Cup which Tarpischev agreed to. Whilst in Moscow Marat has been practising with Yevgeny Kafelnikov. Hernan Gumy will fly to Moscow early next week and then he and Marat will fly to Bangkok on Sunday 21st September. Marat's thoughts will be with the Russian team and he wishes them all the best of luck and to play well and win.
Big loss to the DC team but its a fair decision by Marat.
I just hope the other guys are training on the clay court in preparation the Argentines already have and with Shamil in Spain for the weekend i hope theyre not underprepared.
GOOD LUCK TO KOLYA, IGOR AND MITYA
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Post by justsafin on Sept 14, 2008 23:04:21 GMT 3
news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/tennis/7615488.stmPage last updated at 14:40 GMT, Sunday, 14 September 2008 15:40 UK Safin pulls out of Davis Cup tie Marat Safin Safin is hoping to improve on his current world ranking of 39 Marat Safin has withdrawn from Russia's Davis Cup semi-final with Argentina to focus on improving his world ranking. The former world number one is due to play in the Thailand Open immediately after the 19-21 September tie. Safin, 28, is hoping to move up from his current ranking of 39 with a good showing in Thailand and says playing in Buenos Aires will hamper his chances. "Safin needs to keep getting points before the end of the year," said a statement on his official website. "He feels the trip from Buenos Aires to Bangkok would be very long and tiring." Safin also pulled out of the 2007 final after a poor season, having won the deciding rubber the year before. Russia are already without 2002 hero Mikhail Youzhny, who is missing after failing to regain top form since missing the US Open with a neck injury. That leaves their fate in the hands of world number six Nikolay Davydenko, 20th-ranked Igor Andreev, Dmitry Tursunov (26) and Igor Kunitsyn, who is ranked 76 in the world.
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Post by SAFINNO1 on Sept 15, 2008 17:18:08 GMT 3
NALBANDIAN PLAYS DOWN SAFIN PULL-OUT
David Nalbandian believes Marat Safin's decision to pull out of the Russia team for this week's Davis Cup clash with Argentina will not necessarily be an advantage for the South Americans.
Safin has opted not to travel to Buenos Aires for the semi-final tie, instead concentrating on the ATP event in Bangkok next week and his bid to climb up the world rankings.
Argentina will now face a Russia team comprised of Nikolay Davydenko, Igor Andreev, Dmitry Tursunov and Igor Kunitsyn.
And Nalbandian admits it is a line-up which should not be taken lightly.
"We would have preferred Marat to come here (to Buenos Aires)," said the world number seven.
"They have far more dangerous men than him in the team, so we would have liked him to play."
Nalbandian also questioned Safin's decision to concentrate on the ATP tour.
"I wouldn't have withdrawn from this tie to prioritise the circuit," he added.
Safin aside, Nalbandian is hopeful the Argentina team - which also includes in-form Juan Martin Del Potro, Agustin Calleri and Guillermo Canas - can give a good account of themselves during the best-of-five tie when it gets under way on Friday.
"We've been training since Tuesday and the team is fine," he said.
"It will be a very tough tie but we must work hard. We need to be focused during the whole weekend.
"I am in good form ahead of the end of the season. It's been a difficult year for me due to injuries but I am much better."
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Post by Natasha on Sept 15, 2008 17:38:05 GMT 3
When was it the last time Argentina won DC? Russia have been in the finals quite a lot so i can understand why marat decided to concentrate on his ranking.
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Post by justsafin on Sept 15, 2008 18:37:07 GMT 3
It's exhausting to fly all the way from Argentina to Thailand in one day, let alone that he has to adjust to a totally different kind of surface in such a short time. Marat in the past several years had been a devoting player to Russian DC team. In critical time of his career, I think if he really decides to concentrate on getting points given he has not many years left on tour, Tarpi will understand and respect his decision. Good luck for the rest of the indoor season, Marat!! DAVAI Russian DC TEAM!!!!!!!!! |
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lol 
