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Waffling the Belgians On The Way Back To The World Group!! (The 2005 DC Thread)

62K views 2K replies 96 participants last post by  Golfnduck 
#1 · (Edited)
Thanks for the idea, star :)

This title sucks, give better ideas please :)

Anyway, assuming I can get tickets, I'm going to go to this tie. Hopefully Danielle will too. Anyone else?!!
 
#27 ·
Re: Crushin' The Croats in Carson (The 2005 DC Thread)

I've always found the netheads very interesting. They seem pretty rowdy to me some matches. But then again, if I went to one of Andy's matches, I would be going nuts.
 
#29 ·
Re: Crushin' The Croats in Carson (The 2005 DC Thread)

Golfnduck said:
I've always found the netheads very interesting. They seem pretty rowdy to me some matches. But then again, if I went to one of Andy's matches, I would be going nuts.
I've sat several rows down from them through several matches. I wouldn't mind if they were rowdy, but they are sort of vapid and boring..... combine that with a lot of noise and it's annoying.
 
#30 ·
Re: Crushin' The Croats in Carson (The 2005 DC Thread)

LOL What's funny is that the original Super Mario Bros and Duck Hunt came together on the same cartridge!

I don't think I'd like the whole nethead thing... a little too crazy for me lol

For me, I'm acutally more subdued watching in person than I am watching on tv or following online. B/c when I'm there, I get absorbed by the tennis and the atmosphere so I don't even really think about being nervous for my fave players or whatever. I was even able to sit though multiple Andy tiebreaks and be ok :p
 
#31 ·
Re: Crushin' The Croats in Carson (The 2005 DC Thread)

Debstah said:
LOL What's funny is that the original Super Mario Bros and Duck Hunt came toFor me, I'm acutally more subdued watching in person than I am watching on tv or following online. B/c when I'm there, I get absorbed by the tennis and the atmosphere so I don't even really think about being nervous for my fave players or whatever. I was even able to sit though multiple Andy tiebreaks and be ok :p
As I have only watch Andy play one match live, I'm still not sure how I react watching live. But yeah, the whole atmosphere is awesome, and I dont really remember being really all that nervous. I didnt have to sit through tiebreaks though lol. But if I acted at a real tennis match how I do yelling at the tv or computer screen at home, they would have to remove me from the stands :lol:
 
#32 ·
Re: Crushin' The Croats in Carson (The 2005 DC Thread)

A little wrap-up/preview from the Charleston paper. It's kinda neat that since US played the SF there, the Charleston tennis guy has written more about the team and stuff :)
-------------

U.S. team: Wait until next year

Tennis

BY JAMES BECK
Of The Post and Courier Staff
Few tears were shed by Americans last Sunday in Seville. This year was all about next year for the U.S. Davis Cup team.

Captain Patrick McEnroe and his charges insisted repeatedly that they could win this year's Davis Cup, even on Spain's dreaded red clay. Few people really believed it possible, maybe not even the U.S. team itself.

The Spaniards had their weekend -- make that year -- on red clay. They may not see home during the next Davis Cup season. That's the Davis Cup bounce. One year you can be the champ playing at home; the next year you're strictly a tourist. It all depends on the location of the last tie between competing nations.

If Spain and the United States happen to meet in next year's final, the match would be played in this country. By the luck of the draw, the Americans played their first three matches of 2004 at home before finally going on the road for the loss to Spain. With any luck, the United States could play three of four Davis Cup matches next year at home, including the last two rounds.

The Americans had their fill of red clay last weekend. Spain won only 3-2, but the U.S. squad failed to produce a victory over what might be called Spain's first team. Juan Carlos Ferrero subbed for young Rafael Nadal in doubles after Nadal had beaten Andy Roddick a day earlier to stake Spain to a 2-0 lead. Spain's other loss came in Sunday's dead-rubber when Tommy Robredo replaced Nadal against Mardy Fish.

With Spain's red clay definitely out of the Americans' picture for 2005, they aren't worried about the red clay of France, either. A possible France-U.S. semifinal would be played on U.S. soil, make that American cement or asphalt.

A U.S. Davis Cup championship looks like a good bet in 2005. But some things could go wrong, such as:

-- Andy Roddick suffers a serious injury or the Bryan brothers get out of sync.

-- Belarus gains revenge in a second-round match on its home turf, especially with big Max Mirnyi playing on a fast indoor court; of if they beat the Belarussians, the Americans might have to travel to that part of the world again to face Russia in the semifinals.

-- Or Argentina's clay-court brigade led by Guillermo Coria, David Nalbandian and French Open champion Gaston Gaudio smothers the top half of the draw and invites the Americans to South America for the final.

-- Or maybe worst of all, if Roger Federer happens to find a solid partner in Switzerland and comes calling on America for the final.

All of those are possibilities, but the U.S. team members have got to like their chances in 2005.

CHANGE? WHY?

Everyone seems to think the Davis Cup format needs altering. Why? I doubt if there are many people in Spain wanting to change things. A record crowd of more than 27,000 demonstrated the practicality of the current Davis Cup format.

Why risk taking the spirit out of the Davis Cup by changing it? The Fed Cup may have been lucky with this year's "Final Four" in Moscow. Russia simply had the best women's players in the world. Otherwise, Moscow might have been spiritless.

Parties such as the one the Spanish threw last weekend in Seville far outweigh any negatives of the Davis Cup's current four-weekend format that crowns a champion from 16 World Group qualifiers. So what if the Spanish won? They also likely would have won on a clay court anywhere else in the world. Of course, a Fed Cup "Final Four" approach wouldn't always be fair, for instance if the Europeans were forced to play the final two rounds on a neutral hard court each year, just as it wouldn't be fair to the Americans to have to play the last two rounds on clay.

The current format spaces four weekends over the entire year, but it's wait until next year by mid-summer (next year's quarterfinals have been shifted from early April to July 15-17) for all but the last four survivors.
 
#33 ·
Re: Crushin' The Croats in Carson (The 2005 DC Thread)

An article I just found that I don't think Deb has posted yet :eek: :D

Americans still learning -- especially on clay
By Matthew Cronin
Special to ESPN.com
Sunday, December 5, 2004

SEVILLE, Spain -- Sometimes a captain's steadfast belief and support just isn't enough.

On Sunday, Carlos Moya achieved his lifelong dream, leading Spain to a 3-2 final round Davis Cup victory via his magical 6-2, 7-6 (1), 7-6 (5) victory against the American No. 1 player Andy Roddick.

Just don't tell U.S. Davis Cup captain Patrick McEnroe that his clay-challenged team couldn't have taken the whole shebang.

"We could have won," McEnroe said. "They outplayed us, but if Andy would have won his third set tiebreaker against [Rafael] Nadal on Friday and we would have gone into his match against Moya today up 2-1, it could have been a different result. It's a lot different to play tiebreakers when your team is down. We could have won it this year, but at least we are making progress to our ultimate goal."

McEnroe did all he could to prepare his team for the raucous tie on slow red clay, but his twentysomething team just couldn't grow up fast enough. He sure could have used the steady hands of eight-time Grand Slam champion Andre Agassi, but the legend declined. Now 22, Roddick's game has matured in the past year, but he still gets tight on big points on clay, which is why Sunday he committed three straight unforced errors to lose the second set tiebreaker and five unforced errors to lose the third-set tiebreaker and the match.

"Andy seems to serve really well in tiebreaks," McEnroe said. "And on clay, obviously it's more difficult to win those cheap points solely on your serve. You've got to be able to use some different combinations. I thought he did a much better job today of mixing his serve and using better combinations with the serve as opposed to just trying to hit aces. But I think it's just the pressure of it not being your best surface and not being able to go to your strength at the crunch time, and that's the tiebreak."

Former Roland Garros champion Moya and super-star-in-the-making Nadal are flat out better clay-court players than Roddick and Mardy Fish. Roddick and McEnroe tried multiple change of strategies - but it wasn't enough. Roddick's love of the battle in front of a record-setting crowd of 27,200 red and yellow flag waving fans just wasn't enough. All their hard work preparing for this tie simply wasn't enough to get it done on a foreign surface in a foreign land.

As Roddick and McEnroe said, the U.S. team has improved this year. They won three ties on home soil to reach the final, the first time the United States has reached the last round since 1997. But in their first away tie of the year off hard courts, Roddick and Fish frequently spun their wheels. Roddick played inspired and aggressive tennis in attacking Nadal on Friday but failed to capitalize on a set point in the third set tiebreaker and consequently fell in four sets. Fish never really challenged Moya on Friday and was consistently out-slugged from the backcourt. Roddick never stopped churning against Moya, going for his shots even when the roars of the crowd were deafening, but though he fought like champ, he didn't win a set.

The doubles duo of Bob and Mike Bryan were outstanding in trouncing Juan Carlos Ferrero and Tommy Robredo in doubles and Fish did manage to win the dead rubber over Robredo on Sunday, but the fact is, the Americans only won one set in three live singles matches. On clay, this team still has a lot of learning to do about mixing up shots, playing better defense and being patient.

"You can say whatever you want, but they came out, they took care of business," Roddick said. " They beat us. It's as simple as that ... We just have to improve [on clay]. It's not like we can do anything to prevent it. Bottom line is, we're responsible for it, and we have to get better. There's really no miracle answer. We just have to deal with it, accept it and improve."

Roddick is not a wise old veteran with nerves of steel and has a long way to go before he reaches his true potential. Every part of his game has improved this year, but he's just not closing out matches like he should. Perhaps it's because he's doubting himself when he gets close to victory. He fights hard enough to reach the 15th round, but in 2004, he was TKO-ed on numerous occasions in big matches. He'll end the year as the world's No. 2 ranked player, but he reached only one Grand Slam final, hasn't won a tournament since July, and this weekend dropped two contests as his team's No. 1.

Since Agassi likely will never return to Davis Cup play (even though McEnroe is keeping the door open), it's up to Roddick to step up another level in 2005. Otherwise, the United States -- which last won the crown in 1995 -- faces going a decade without a Davis Cup title, which would tie it's longest drought since its slide between 1927 and 1936. For the nation with the most Cup wins in history (31), that's a mark it wants to avoid.

"I've been at the finish line a couple times this year and haven't crossed it first," Roddick said. "It's disappointing, but at the same time you have to look at what it took to get there. Last year was almost too easy. I didn't get there that often, but when I did, I made it happen. This year I felt like I got there more often, and it didn't happen for me. I'll just work harder."

McEnroe isn't that concerned about the Americans' dry spell because men's tennis has become deeper over the past 15 years, with the likes of Spain and Argentina producing powerful baseliners by the dozens. He knows his team has an excellent shot at the Cup next year. Because of a favorable draw, the United States has a decent chance at playing all their matches at home, where they can choose the surface.

"It has been too long." McEnroe said of the drought. "I think this group can do it next year and we're setting the stage to compete for the title every year."
 
#34 ·
Re: Crushin' The Croats in Carson (The 2005 DC Thread)

Hopefully they can do it next year. Andy needs to improve his all-around game on all surfaces (except grass) and Mardy needs to get a stronger mental game.
 
#35 ·
Re: Crushin' The Croats in Carson (The 2005 DC Thread)

"I've been at the finish line a couple times this year and haven't crossed it first," Roddick said. "It's disappointing, but at the same time you have to look at what it took to get there. Last year was almost too easy. I didn't get there that often, but when I did, I made it happen. This year I felt like I got there more often, and it didn't happen for me. I'll just work harder."

No wonder he only wanted to sit around, doing nothing important.
He's pathetic if he's overjoyed & unaware that he
played BADLY (1 or 2 points from losing a match) VS. mostly non-top 5 players.
Davis Cup is NOT the main priority.
Forget Idiot McEnroe's desire to get the glory from Andy's effort.
He's not ready to grab a trophy because he hardly trains on clay, let alone carpet-type courts where he's inexperienced on.
 
#36 · (Edited)
#37 ·
Re: Crushin' The Croats in Carson (The 2005 DC Thread)

Thought I would bump this since Andy just whooped ITT.
 
#38 ·
Re: Crushin' The Croats in Carson (The 2005 DC Thread)

And since at least three of our resident duckies will be there! :woohoo:
 
#41 ·
Re: Crushin' The Croats in Carson (The 2005 DC Thread)

me, Amanda (am&a), and Danielle (superpinkone)!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
#44 ·
Re: Crushin' The Croats in Carson (The 2005 DC Thread)

aww we'll be sure to report back and take pics and all that jazz :D
 
#47 ·
Re: Crushin' The Croats in Carson (The 2005 DC Thread)

Yea!!! Not the Netheads but the Duckheads!! ;) Or Maybe Quackheads would be a better double entendre of sorts ;)
 
#48 ·
Re: Crushin' The Croats in Carson (The 2005 DC Thread)

Debstah said:
Yea!!! Not the Netheads but the Duckheads!! ;) Or Maybe Quackheads would be a better double entendre of sorts ;)
LOL!!! You should make shirts or something. Pretty soon there will be a huge following of Duckheads :p
 
#51 ·
Re: Crushin' The Croats in Carson (The 2005 DC Thread)

Fumus said:
or you could call it Frustration in the Croation Nation
LOL!!!! I like that one.
 
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