Davis Cup Recap and Draw

This past weekend, less than a week from the thrilling and physical Monday US Open final, the top men had to play Davis Cup prompting a few players, namely Andy Murray and Rafael Nadal, to comment on the crazy scheduling issues that has plagued the tour for years. Maybe it should've been top seed and US Open champion Novak Djokovic who spoke out since his incapability to play cost the defending champions Serbia to default against a determined Argentinian team. Led by Juan Martin Del Potro and David Nalbandian, Argentina took a 2-1 lead on the third day that forced the hand of Djokovic and Serbia. Motivated by hubris or carelessness, an injured Djokovic was substituted in and promptly had to retire in the middle of the second set giving Argentina the win and Djokovic his only third loss for the year.

Argentina will look to get its very first Davis Cup championship by facing Spain in the finals. Led by a superb Nadal at home on his beloved clay, Spain dominated their semifinal clash with France over the weekend. The French did well to handily take the doubles with the help of Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, but Spain was just impenetrable in the singles.


Roger Federer led his Swiss team against a very tough Australian team in one of the World Group Play-off matches that also took place over the weekend. Federer needed to win both of his matches, which he did, to level 2-2 after Stan Wawrinka lost his first match and both of them lost their doubles. The final match between Wawrinka and Lleyton Hewitt would determine the winner of the tie and it was literally down to the wire with the epic match being suspended at 5-3 in the fifth set due to darkness. When they reconvened the next day, Wawrinka was able to break Hewitt's serve to put Switzerland back to the World Group next year.

Speaking of, the draws for next year's World Group ties were held today at Bangkok, Thailand. Nadal-led Spain will meet first-time World Group contender Kazakhstan at home while Del Potro and the Argentinians will travel to Germany for a tricky match-up with them. Djokovic will take on Robin Soderling when the Serbians travel to Sweden while the American team of Mardy Fish, John Isner, and possibly Andy Roddick will go to Switzerland to face Federer and his team. Other first round match-ups include Russia-Austria, France-Canada, Italy-Czech Republic, and Japan-Croatia.