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110K views 2K replies 74 participants last post by  Brad1973 
#1 ·
I thought it might be useful to start a thread for Davis Cup discussions.

Next up is Ecuador, July 8-10.

So who do we send? (I am asking who we would send, not who Laurendeau will pick since many of his recent choices have been inscrutable, to put it politely).

Ecuador of course has long been looking forward to el bombardero: see http://www.diario-expreso.com/ediciones/2011/03/29/deportes/mas-deportes/el-bombardero-raonic/ (I like the fact that this piece suggests Raonic is the main reason for choosing clay – as if a Latin American country ever picked anything but clay against our guys!)

Apart from Raonic, Nestor is there of course, unless he is not available.

I don’t see any signs of players getting themselves ready for the clay (Pospisil, Polansky and Bester are all signed up for hard court challengers in the weeks of Wimbledon). And for the week of DC, Dancevic is signed up for Newport, where he has a QF to defend.

But really when you look at the players Ecuador has to choose from, you can understand that we wouldn’t be taking extreme measures to get ready: http://www.atpworldtour.com/Rankings/Singles.aspx?d=06.06.2011&c=ECU&r=0#. The remaining Lapentti is the only guy they have in the top 350, and he seems to be having problems – recently he’s been retiring from a match almost as often as he completes one.

I would encourage Dancevic to play Newport, and go with Nestor and Pospisil in doubles and bring along Polansky, with a view to playing either Peter or Vasek in the singles.
 
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#709 ·
I don't think you can ... I thought you had an hour before first match to make changes for either. Can someone confirm. Anyways, am surprised Levine didn't get the nod ... but after what Vashy's done the last 2, I guess you have to give ML the benefit of the doubt that he knows what he's doing.
 
#711 ·
I thought it was an hour before the 1st match for the 1st match, and as soon as the first match ended for the 2nd match?

I'm not 100% sure though.

Milos' serve is just on fire right now :eek:
 
#736 ·
If I were Canada I'd wear white. We need home and away uniforms!

Or wear black just to mess up the Serbs.
 
#728 ·
I'd say there is just about zero chance Djoker skips the semi's at home (although we can always sort of hope :) ) ... he's got the passion for this. The thing is, should he have to play say 3 grinding QF - SF - F matches on the SLOOOOOOW US courts, that could be a tough turnaround. For Canada's sake, you almost hope Raonic doesn't make it past the QF or he's in the same boat. (Just kidding, just kidding :) ).

And yah, having more than half our team conversant in Serbian will be interesting.
 
#732 ·
And it beats lounging around in Group I all those years. Wasn't Canada in Group II!?

I went to a few ties in Calgary and they were in Group I.
 
#731 ·
Great win. Milos gets it done again. Now if he could only bring the kind of steadiness and consistency he's shown in this format week to week on tour.

This sets up a potential Raonic/Djokovic match with a lot of meaning on that Sunday. Been waiting for that for a long time. All we have to do is pick up a match before that (either Raonic vs. Tipsarevic or the doubles which is always up in the air). I very much hope both of them stay healthy in the meantime.
 
#734 ·
I'm expecting a good clay court season from him ... with Nadal at #5 there is chance at some really good draws for him (if for eg. he is on opposite half of Djoker / Fed / Nadal) .. or conversely some bad ones. But he's heading in this year inside the top 16 so he's seeded for everything.

re: Serbia tie, we should be able to take at least one of Raonic vs. #2 Serb / doubles to make Sunday meaningful. Unfortunately, besides that, we probably need a miracle. But, we at least made it there (as mentioned above). I do like though how Raonic made it clear we aren't done yet ... like his confidence & high target ... don't think it is arrogance.
 
#733 ·
Will be an almost impossible task in SErbia.

Milos can beat Tipsarevic(Troicki) if he plays well. And we can win the doubles if they play well.

MIlos beating Nole in SErbia at Davis Cup on the first try will be very very very unlikely, and Vasek/Frank/Jesse beating Tipsarevic will be tough as well.

If we do get Milos over Tipsy/Troicki and the doubles it'll give us a shot going into the final day up 2-1 but in all honesty I'm just thrill to be in the semis.

We're going in there playing with house money, if we win that's incredible, if not not biggie we are huge underdogs. Just go out there and do as good as we can.

Kinda wish we were int he other half now though. The team the Czechs sent to Kazakhstan we very beatable. As was the Argentina team. They're probably have different teams for the semis maybe but still easier than the Serbians
 
#735 ·
Will be an almost impossible task in SErbia.
Kinda wish we were int he other half now though. The team the Czechs sent to Kazakhstan we very beatable. As was the Argentina team. They're probably have different teams for the semis maybe but still easier than the Serbians
Yah, and with either of them we'd have had another home tie! Ah well, as you said, let's enjoy it.
 
#739 ·
The draw for the World Group playoffs just came out. It feels weird that I’m not checking to see who Canada is playing. Columbia versus Japan should be interesting.

People keep saying that Canada made the semifinals in 1913. I don’t think that’s quite right. Under the Challenge Round system, the winner of the tournament played the previous year’s champion to determine the new champion. In 1913, the US beat Canada in the final and then beat Great Britain in the challenge round. I know calling Canada the finalist is misleading because it suggests they were in the final two, but calling them semi-finalists is not right either.

I can’t believe the challenge round lasted until 1971. I’m glad they abolished it, though maybe it would make sense to give the two finalists a bye in the first round of the following year.
 
#740 ·
It is interesting the challenge round lasted that long - had no idea. I don't think that the 1913 achievement,call it a semi-final or something else, is anywhere near this one where the game's gone so global. Even with Raonic, he's not cracked the top 13 yet.

We've had an incredibly good draw, true, but I think we have a 30, 35% chance of winning away to Serbia. I can see Vasek getting into the top 70 or so while Tipsarevic may be on a permanent, though gradual, decline. If Nestor can keep his form - curious to see how he'll do in doubles on clay this year. I do think you try to play Jesse (or maybe Frank) on the first day and save Vasek for the doubles and last day singles.
 
#741 ·
Raonic throws me for a loop by beating Nestor in doubles in Monte Carlo, but I still think it's better to save Raonic for singles and have Nestor and Pospisil play doubles. With Tipsarevic and Troicki currently struggling, the fifth match is shaping up to be pretty interesting. I would pick Pospisil over Levine and Dancevic as the second singles player.
 
#742 ·
Hehe, it's pretty funny that we're all watching matches and dreaming of a scenario where we could win this. And it's scary that the dominoes all falling doesn't seem impossible.

Danny and Linstedt beat Nenad and Almagro today. Danny's at an age where I don't think he can be consistent for 2 weeks and win a slam but we just need one good day. If he's healthy and playing decent, I think it's 65-70% we'll be up 2:1 going into the third day.

I was reading through that old Canadian Players thread. I wish we could go back a few years in time and make them laugh by telling them that most of us are 95% sure that a Canadian Player will face the World #1 in a live rubber on Sunday of the Davis Cup semi-finals.
 
#744 · (Edited)
Nestor plays Zimonjic tomorrow two months ahead of their Davis Cup match. Pospisil has solidified his place as Nestor's Davis Cup doubles partner by having a good doubles run at Wimbledon. I wonder if Serbia will use Bozoljac again. He's never done anything except beat the Bryans in Davis Cup in April.

Pospisil has also solidified his place as the second singles player. It's a pity he fell just short against Zeballos and Youzhny, but someday a breakthrough will come (in the fifth match in Belgrade?). He's playing about as well as Tipsarevic and Troicki, even on clay.

I wonder if Laurendeau will put someone else against Djokovic on Friday to save Pospisil from having to play three matches. Dancevic's win against Granollers in February seems like a distant memory.
 
#746 ·
Actually Pospisil and Levine might be the new DC dubs team, if not right away then soon.
 
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