I thought I'd start a new thread focused entirely on cheering on Australia back into the world group. They have just chosen Brisbane as the venue for our upcoming tie against Japan and its going to be played on clay! Should be interesting to see how our boys go on the dirt, obviously Luczak will feel right at home but Tomic, Ball, Gooch and co may struggle. I think Lleyton may be fit in time for the tie so the most logical team at this stage would be Hewitt and Luczak in the singles and Ball and Hanley/Gooch for the doubles.
I can't see Japan hurting us to badly especially if Rusty is fit and ready. Nishikori's elbow is still bothering him and if he somehow manages to play he will have no matchplay. Soeda is solid but I don't how he would fare on clay? May give Pete a tough match. Ito is their top ranked player at 201 but he has had a pretty poor start to the year and only just got the job done against the Phillipines, winning his last match in 5 sets. Suzuki is there darkhorse, he can still turn it on when he gets going.
Summing this up, we should progress here rather comfortably either 4-1 or 5-0 i'll predict.
I can't see Japan hurting us to badly especially if Rusty is fit and ready. Nishikori's elbow is still bothering him and if he somehow manages to play he will have no matchplay. Soeda is solid but I don't how he would fare on clay? May give Pete a tough match. Ito is their top ranked player at 201 but he has had a pretty poor start to the year and only just got the job done against the Phillipines, winning his last match in 5 sets. Suzuki is there darkhorse, he can still turn it on when he gets going.
Summing this up, we should progress here rather comfortably either 4-1 or 5-0 i'll predict.