Davis Cup 2008

[maryb]

I nip off to put the lunch on ... and come back and it's all over. Ah well, would've been good to see if Davy finished the match off ... but who's complaining? The Russkis are through another round.

The GB tie was as expected - but the doubles had a good fight in the second set and had set points. What happened in the third though? The rain stopped play ... and I didn't get to see the last set.

PS Saw Frensje waving her flag. Well done girl - you must have sore arms.

PPS The Big Yin will be tucked up in bed with a box of hankies and his Lemsips judging by the pics from the other day. At least he'll be fit again for the start of the season.

[Dina]

ps: the last pic posted of him is heart breaking.... mummy!!!!!!!!!
give him a competent doctor so he can heal! this is smthg else!

[uranus]

Feb 10, 2008 18:21:10 GMT 3 marti said:

Uranus, it was never a secret that Nole was sick since the beginning of the week. Russian press reported it before the tie started and it was expected that he might not play on the first day.

I meant that they were sure from the beginning Nole won't play the first day.. But they didn't wanna say right away.. Doesn't matter now anyway

[annie]

I'm happy Russia won....but it wasn't a very good third win...retirement? why would the team capt. even make Nole play when he's sick like that? or are all of them sick and he was actually feeling "better" than everyone elsa? I doubt that...well, it doesn't matter now...but no one should blame Nole for losing/retiring....


Anyway, CONGRATULATIONS RUSSIANS!!!!!

[Anne]

MATCH REPORT
Russia wins but Serbia's reputation enhanced

Russia’s 3-2 victory over Serbia was almost as much about the relationship between appearance and illusion as it was about tennis. What should have been a celebration of Novak Djokovic’s first event since winning the Australian Open became a tactical battle for Serbia to get enough players ready for the relevant matches, and part of that battle was an attempt to control information to the point where no-one really knew who was ill or injured, and by how much. What also emerged by the end of the weekend was that the Russian team also had its own health issues.

Modern sport is based around players being in peak fitness, and tennis is no exception. But peak fitness so often means pushing the body beyond the limits “normally fit” people stick within, and that’s when super-fit bodies can rebel. When that happens, some of the most eagerly awaited sporting moments can be spoiled. Who knows why – a few days after being feted a hero for breaking the Federer-Nadal Grand Slam stranglehold – Djokovic’s body decided to call a time-out? Maybe it was a psychological come-down after his heroics in Melbourne, or he picked up a germ in a plane, or the fact that he spent over two hours being acclaimed outdoors on a cold Belgrade day while wearing just a T-shirt? It probably depends on where you believe illness comes from. But what was clear was that he arrived in Moscow for Serbia’s first-ever Davis Cup by BNP Paribas world group tie with flu-like symptoms, which prevented him from practising on the Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday leading up to the tie. Add to that the leg injury picked up in Moscow by Serbia’s No 2 Janko Tipsarevic, whose previous match was taking Roger Federer to a 10-8 fifth set, and fate was being particularly unkind to the newcomers.

They still nominated Djokovic for the first day, and Tipsarevic kept people guessing by saying he had a stomach bug rather than an injury (the illness can clear in a couple of days, the injury would take three weeks), but it was all part of using information as a weapon in the war. In the end, Serbia had to go into the opening day’s singles with a 31-year-old doubles specialist ranked 689 in singles who had been running a temperature the previous day and a 21-year-old playing his first Davis Cup rubber – this against two players in the world’s top 10. The fact that Serbia went to bed on Friday night having won three sets when none would have been no embarrassment testifies to the nation’s fighting spirit. But then the underlying story behind this weekend is that you underestimate Serbia at your peril.

Russia also affected by fitness issues

By Saturday, Russia’s captain Shamil Tarpischev must have been rueing his decision to let Igor Andreev miss the tie because of tournament commitments in America. Marat Safin – Russia’s most versatile player whose absence from the 2007 final was such a loss to his country’s chances of defending its 2006 title – was already carrying a foot injury but woke up on Saturday with a temperature, and couldn’t play. The Safin-Tursunov pairing, Tarpischev’s original nomination after they played so well in the 2006 final against Argentina’s Calleri and Nalbandian, was replaced by Tursunov-Youzhny, who had lost their previous three rubbers. But the real interest in the doubles was whether Djokovic would last in his first match since winning in Australia.

He did. Helped by the world class Zimonjic who was still under the weather, the Serbs were simply the better doubles team, and the fact that they won in straight sets limited Djokovic’s time on court and gave the visitors hope that their star could be fit for the final day.

He was out there against Nikolay Davydenko, even if not fully fit. He later admitted to feeling dizzy from the start, but you’d never have known it as he took the first set of the fourth rubber, a match pitting the third and fourth best players in the world against each other. Leading 2-1 in the second, Djokovic played two sublime games that showed why he was a Grand Slam champion, and when he led 3-0 in the third set with a double break, the gamble of playing him appeared to have paid off. But he knew all along he probably only had enough steam for three sets, and when Davydenko began playing more conservatively and making Djokovic run more, it turned the tide Russia’s way. The longer rallies soaked up the Serb’s dwindling energy, he was able to be less aggressive and to dictate less, and when Davydenko hit a backhand down the line to seal his third break and take the third set 6-4, Djokovic threw in the towel.

“I had to stop to avoid a risk to my health,” was Djokovic’s explanation of his shock-but-not-shock walkout. How risky it would have been to carry on, no-one knows. There may be some who have been in war situations or multi-day treks through rough terrain who would say the human body can take much more than three sets of tennis, even when recovering from a flu-like bug. But it would be very harsh to accuse a still 20-year-old sportsman of not having that degree of knowledge about his body, especially when, having lost the third set, he felt he had nothing to gain and much to lose by going on.

The fact that Serbia can come away from Moscow having lost 3-2 with only one fully fit player (Troicki, who earned himself a 22nd birthday present by winning the dead rubber) is a fact the tennis world should note. True, Russia had its own problems – as well as Safin’s illness and injury, Tarpischev admitted that Davydenko had an abdominal strain and Youzhny wasn’t 100 per cent fit, though as that was in answer to the question “Do Serbia’s injuries devalue Russia’s win” it’s fair to wonder whether there may have been a little exaggeration for the sake of team pride. But the sense at the end of the weekend was that Serbia will be back, and stronger. In fact Tarpischev suggested that, with a more favourable draw, the young nation might even have gone all the way in the 2008 Davis Cup by BNP Paribas.

The future looks bright for the Balkan nation, even if it’s Russia who will be welcoming the Czechs in Moscow in April’s quarterfinals.

[SAFINNO1]

We deserved win over ill Serbia, Russian captain says
By Gennady Fyodorov
MOSCOW, Feb 10 (Reuters) - Russian Davis Cup captain Shamil Tarpishchev said his team had fully deserved their victory against Serbia on Sunday despite the fact the visitors were hit hard by illness and injury.
Novak Djokovic was forced to retire from his match against Nikolay Davydenko with exhaustion, handing the Russians an unassailable 3-1 lead in their first-round tie.
The Australian Open champion had been suffering from a virus and did not play on Friday, while Serbian number two Janko Tipsarevic was sidelined from the three-day tie altogether by a stomach bug and ankle injury.
The 2006 champions and last year's runners-up eventually won 3-2 to advance to the quarter-finals against the Czech Republic.
"Much has been said and written about Serbia's misfortunes," Tarpishchev told reporters.
"That's true, but it shouldn't make our victory less satisfying because we also had our share of injuries and sickness," he said.
"We had three players, Davydenko, (Mikhail) Youzhny and (Marat) Safin carrying minor injuries while Marat also had a high fever.

SAFIN VIRUS
"Safin probably contracted the virus from Djokovic," Tarpishchev joked. "Today, he was too sick to even sit in the stands, he was laying flat on the couch in the team's dressing room, cheering on the guys.
"So I would like to give credit to our guys for their hard work and commitment to the team's cause," he added.
Tarpishchev's counterpart, Bogdan Obradovic, was gracious in defeat.
"I would like to congratulate the Russian team on their victory," the Serbian captain said.
"We had come here with great hopes of doing well. It's just a bad luck that three of our top players became unfit to play as (doubles specialist) Nenad Zimonjic was also feeling sick."
Obradovic, however, was quick to point out that there was no foul play on the part of the home team.
"No, not at all," he said. "We not here to put the blame on anyone. It's hard to say really where exactly our players became sick. It could have been at the airport on our way to Moscow or after we arrived. We just don't know." (Editing by Miles Evans)

[Dina]

this is quite scaring, fever is terribly dangerous when it sticks on a guy like Marat!
Lord make him heal quick!

[maryb]

Hey, it wasn't a complete whitewash - Jamie Baker won his DC match! And I didn't get to see it! Bloody typical. Andy has 'promised' he'll be available for the 'play-offs' in September. We'll see. Would like to be a fly on the wall in the Murray household when Andy and Jamie M meet up. Although, I made the point as well about the Big Yin - DC is a team effort, and shouldn't put the onus on one guy.

PS Dina, the Big Yin will recover and get back on form very soon. His fairy godmother has been casting some spells again ...

[Patxy]

[Patxy]

uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/11022008/58/davis-cup-andreev-czech-test-clay.html

Davis Cup - Andreev back for Czech test on clay
Eurosport - Mon, 11 Feb 13:21:00 2008

Russia captain Shamil Tarpishchev has confirmed that he will recall clay-court specialist Igor Andreev for the Davis Cup quarter-final with the Czech Republic in April.

Russia defeated injury-hit Serbia 3-2 in their first-round match on an indoor hard court at the weekend to set up a home tie at the Czechs which is set to be played on clay at the 6,000-seat Luzhniki arena.

Tarpishchev said the surface for the Fed Cup semi-final against the United States two weeks later had yet to be decided.

"Most definitely we'll host the Czechs on clay but for the Fed Cup we have a few options -- it depends on the players," he said.

Tarpishchev, who also coaches the Fed Cup team, expects world number three Svetlana Kuznetsova or Australian Open champion Maria Sharapova to spearhead Russia's challenge against the Americans.

This month, Florida-based Sharapova made her Fed Cup debut for Russia, leading them to a 4-1 first-round win over Israel in Tel Aviv.

"If we have Kuznetsova we'll play on clay, with Sharapova it'll be a hard court," Tarpishchev said.

"Of course, we can also make a last-minute switch depending on who the Americans will bring. If it's the Williams sisters (Serena and Venus) almost certainly we'll pick clay."

Russia's Davis Cup win over Serbia extended their winning home streak to 15 ties, dating back to their defeat by the United States in the 1995 final.

They were handed the advantage over the Serbs on Sunday when Australian Open champion Novak Djokovic, suffering from a virus infection, was forced to retire against Nikolay Davydenko, handing the hosts an unbeatable 3-1 lead.

Despite Russia's record, Tarpishchev remains cautious.

"I've learned over the years not to take any match lightly," said the 59-year-old, who has led Russia to three Fed Cups and two Davis Cups since 2002 and is bidding to become the first captain to win a unique double by lifting both trophies in the same year after narrowly missing the feat last year.

"And each year the wins are getting tougher and tougher."

Eurosport

[Mrs. Fabregas]

Feb 9, 2008 16:58:21 GMT 3 uranus said:

I think I saw frensje in the audience!

Feb 9, 2008 17:43:47 GMT 3 maryb said:

PPS I think I saw Frensje. Well, a girl with curls behind the Russki team box.

Feb 9, 2008 21:00:17 GMT 3 davis said:

Mary, the last thing I heard from her was that she'd be behind the SERBIAN box ;D Perfect place for a Russia supporter... But things change, who knows? I'm sure we'll get a report once she's back online.

Feb 10, 2008 16:25:29 GMT 3 uranus said:

frensje was there with a flag i think

PS Saw Frensje waving her flag. Well done girl - you must have sore arms.

I was spotted so many times ??



Lemme explain

On friday, we were half/ half behind the russian/ serbian benches, on Saturday we were fully behind the Russian benches and on sunday we joined the Russian Cheering squad at the other side of the court (yeah, the really loud ones ) who provided me a beautiful big russian flag which I proudly waved!!!!! And no, no sore arms at all, i did had a tiny little bit of a sore throat that evening, after all the Russian cheering i did (all ruski's can be proud, i did my best to cheer for them in Russian, my vocabulaire increased big time as did my russian reading )

The pictures will follow soon, am also very curious about Jelka's pictures ... Too bad we couldn't meet though ... Is your boy feeling better already??

[maryb]

Feb 11, 2008 15:16:06 GMT 3 Anne said:

MATCH REPORT
Russia wins but Serbia's reputation enhancedMarat Safin – Russia’s most versatile player whose absence from the 2007 final was such a loss to his country’s chances of defending its 2006 title – was already carrying a foot injury but woke up on Saturday with a temperature, and couldn’t play.

Hey Big Yin, can I just comment - take note. 'Most versatile player'? Why is it that everyone makes these comments? Listen ... and learn. Absorb, and stop doubting. Just do it.

Signed
Double o fairy

[happy]

Hi Frensje!
My son feels better now! I will try to put the pics on this site. I think I will do it at the weekend, because I have a lot of work now!!! But my pics are not so good, I think!!!! You will see! I am also very sorry that we can´t meet!!!!! Next time we will see us, I am sure!!!

[Annie]

Just found out that the quarterfinals tie will take place in Luzhniki, not Olimpiyski. I HATE that stadium

Head to Head with the Czechs is tied at 4 all

[helloticky]

Luzhniki so......on hard court ? ? but Russia won 3-2 on clay right?? they never met on hard right..