Davis Cup 2011 thoughts

Fanatic Omes:

Can I just use this opportunity to say, um, WOOP. I'm so pleased - this is exactly what Rafa needed! After a tumultuous year full of darkness, anger and despair (#blameNovak) us Rafa fans at least got the end we were hoping for.

It was a rollercoaster-tastic match. In the first game when Rafa was getting broken left right and centre, that feeling of misery echoed in those 6 finals resurfaced and it was horrific (#blameNovak). I thought the unthinkable would happen. A loss in front of a home crowd final on clay after the year Rafa had had would have, at the risk of sounding dramatic, destroyed him. (Bearing in mind Abu Dhabi starts at the end of this month.)

But that didn't happen and even though he final set had more breaks than holds of serve (was there even one??), I was confident that Rafa would take it in the tie break. I hope at that moment he too "let go of the fear" (#blameNovak) for 2012.

Anyway if Rafa gets an A for his part in the DC final, Daveeeeed (Ferrer) get's an A+, MVP and Man of the Match because he really did pull it out the bag for Spain.* That win against Delpo was just courageous. And I'm just gonna go ahead and choose to ignore what the hombres were saying about retiring from DC next year.  Lalalalalalalalalalalalalala.

Finally let's just all give a cyber group hug to Delpo who fought his arse off out there - it's not easy to convince people that you actually had an extremely realistic shot at winning Rafael Nadal on an important best of 5 clay final in from on a home crowd. It really wouldn't have been surprising if Delpo pulled off that match. (Well, it would have but you know what I mean). And it must be gut-wrenching thinking you'd lost it (twice) for your country. I guess our B.F.G can take solace in the fact that he's hitting the ball cray cray and everyone should be very afraid next year. And Nalby, oh Nalby. Watching him rehabilitate himself on twitter is giving me sadz, but he knows what Argentina accomplished and what he accomplished for them and he and he seems fine.

So that's all from our overworked and overpaid tennis boys for what, 3 weeks? Tennis never ends.

*Fernando also gets an A for being captain of cheer camp.

The Real Winners of the Davis Cup

Fanatic Omes:

Sure Spain beat France and Argentina beat Serbia to set up a nice Hispanic-y clash in the final. Sure Switzerland, Austria, Japan, Italy, Croatia, Canada, Russia and the Czech Republic all came through in the world group playoffs. These countries may have won their ties, but nobody won over our hearts, LOLZ and WTFs like this lot:

Rafa Nadal: For playing 3 days after losing that grueling US Open final, which must have felt like assault. Rafa had just 45 minutes to practice transitioning from hard to clay and disclosed that he was "close to the end of his energy". And he still PWNED poor Gasquet and Jo-Willy, reminding us that he is no doubt the GOATOC. (Greatest of all time on clay).

Córdoba: For making that the killer poster above (click to enlarge and read). Unless it was the thing responsible for spurring on Fer's jacket.

Nalbandian: For being the anchor of the Argentina. Nobody does a Davis like Daveed. He brings out his best for it and it brings out the best in him. You'd have to smile thinking about how much making this final must mean to him. But then you'd soon frown knowing that Spain will probably kick their asses. And then you'd smile again because: vamos.

That Judy fan: For that t-shirt. Andy, this is what you get for having a cool mum.

Hewitt and Guccione: For upsetting Olympic Gold pair Stanislas and Roger, having teamed up for just the second time ever. Did you LOL? I did.

Sela: For not letting a little thing like height keep him from making his voice heard.

Popsicle (Vasek Pospisil): For leading Canada to victory in a stand out performance, complete with a 5 set epic against Sela, a doubles shocker with Nestor and a straight sets final over Weintraub. The 21 year old moved up a couple of ranking spots with the performance declaring it "the best moment of [his] career". And those rosy cheeks!

Nole: For going out there with a failing back and trying the best he could. It must have been tough to come crashing down on the same stage that was so integral to his unbelievable success this year. I'm sure if all his ligaments etc. had snapped so that his skeleton was only being held by his skin, and there was a way he could still play, he would have. Also a couple of points for the tears. Grown men crying gets me every time.

Del Potro: Again the crying thing - every time. 

Roger: For being the tournie's class clown.  

Fer: For being brave enough to don that jacket. And also for redeeming himself after his shocktastic performance with Feli in the doubles match against Tsonga and Llodra.

(Pics: AP, Getty, Reuters, SMP Images, Yahoo)

The Davis Cup Effect

Neutral Omes:

This year is Novak Djokovic’s year; there’s no question about that. Naturally with the emergence of a tennis monster like himself, there will be a plethora of theories surrounding who or what was responsible for its creation. Was it the cutting out of gluten? Marian Vajda stepping up? The fruits of labour finally paying off? Of course in however big or small a way these things all played their parts, but the monster himself attested that it was mostly due to his part in Serbia’s Davis Cup win last year. There’s no doubt that a small nation like Serbia, who’s been recovering from a tumultuous past, loves and needs their heroes (c.f. Novak Djokovic’s Serbian welcome after Wimbledon). And in the tennis world – they’ve found themselves with heroes-a-plenty. The Davis Cup is big for Serbia and therefore big for Djokovic. The win helped him to let go of his fear, which evidently was the only thing holding him back from being at the top of men’s tennis.

My theory is that Novak Djokovic paved the way for other top (but not quite at the top at the moment) players who are looking for inspiration in their careers. Andy Roddick, Andy Murray and Roger Federer all hadn’t competed for their countries since 2009. Call me a conspiracy theorist (if there is such a thing) but I don’t think it’s a coincidence that they’re all playing now (post Djokovic 2.0).

And how has their quest for stimulation paid off? Well it definitely sparked something in Andy Murray who was in floods of happy tears after an emotional winning weekend in his hometown. Roger Federer has to be pleased that he’s lead Switzerland back into the World Group – his absence proves costly. That said we’ll keep an eye on their American seasons. Let’s hope for Andy Roddick that there are no adverse effects.

(Pic: be0grad.com)