Talk About Tennis 2.0

ti-amie wrote: ↑Sun Sep 19, 2021 10:15 pm

This is why I don't follow Davis Cup. Too confusing. I can barely handle going from one lower group to the higher group, but not a middle step of qualifiers. Too much.

They made a mess of it, really. In the past, it was not simple but it was orderly.
It truly makes no sense to watch it anymore. They took a venerable competition and turned it into a joke. I don't watch it either anymore. They could have let it die and remain a thing of lore, but...

It's obvious that they're making a deliberate and concerted effort to kill Davis Cup - so that they can replace it with the bubble gum of the Laver Cup and ATP Cup.

It's very sad.

Associated Press


LONDON -- Top-ranked Novak Djokovic and US Open champion Daniil Medvedev headline the rosters announced Monday for the Davis Cup finals that begin next month.

Djokovic, a 20-time major champion who fell one win short of a calendar-year Grand Slam in 2021, is joined on Serbia's squad by Filip Krajinovic, Dusan Lajovic, Laslo Djere and Miomir Kecmanovic.

Medvedev, who is ranked No. 2 and claimed his first Grand Slam title by beating Djokovic in the final at Flushing Meadows in September, leads a Russian team that includes No. 6 Andrey Rublev, No. 19 Aslan Karatsev, No. 30 Karen Khachanov and Evgeny Donskoy.

Eighteen countries will participate in group-stage matches starting Nov. 25 on indoor hard courts in Madrid; Innsbruck, Austria; and Turin, Italy. After quarterfinals in those cities, the semifinals and final will be held in Madrid.

Spain is the reigning champion thanks to its 2019 title; the Davis Cup was called off last year because of the coronavirus pandemic.


Full Rosters (listed by group for the opening stage):

Group A (Madrid)

Russia: Daniil Medvedev, Andrey Rublev, Aslan Karatsev, Karen Khachanov, Evgeny Donskoy.

Spain: Pablo Carreno Busta, Roberto Bautista Agut, Carlos Alcaraz, Feliciano Lopez, Marcel Granollers.

Ecuador: Emilio Gomez, Roberto Quiroz, Diego Hidalgo, Gonzalo Escobar, Antonio Cayetano March.

------

Group B (Madrid)

Canada: Felix Auger-Aliassime, Denis Shapovalov, Vasek Pospisil, Brayden Schnur, Peter Polansky.

Kazakhstan: Alexander Bublik, Mikhail Kukushkin, Dmitry Popko, Aleksandr Nedovyesov, Andrey Golubev.

Sweden: Elias Ymer, Mikael Ymer, Jonathan Mridha, Andre Goransson.

------

Group C (Innsbruck)

France: Ugo Humbert, Arthur Rinderknech, Richard Gasquet, Pierre-Hugues Herbert, Nicolas Mahut.

Britain: Cameron Norrie, Daniel Evans, Joe Salisbury, Neal Skupski.

Czech Republic: Jiri Vesely, Tomas Machac, Zdenek Kolar, Jiri Lehecka, Lukas Rosol.

------

Group D (Turin)

Croatia: Marin Cilic, Borna Coric, Borna Gojo, Nikola Mektic, Mate Pavic.

Australia: Alex de Minaur, John Millman, Jordan Thompson, Alexei Popyrin, John Peers.

Hungary: Marton Fucsovics, Attila Balazs, Zsombor Marozsan, Mate Valkusz.

------

Group E (Turin)

U.S.: John Isner, Reilly Opelka, Taylor Fritz, Jack Sock, Rajeev Ram.

Italy: Matteo Berrettini, Jannik Sinner, Lorenzo Sonego, Fabio Fognini, Lorenzo Musetti.

Colombia: Daniel Elahi Galan, Nicolas Mejia, Juan Sebastian Cabal, Robert Farah.

------

Group F (Innsbruck)

Serbia: Novak Djokovic, Filip Krajinovic, Dusan Lajovic, Laslo Djere, Miomir Kecmanovic.

Germany: Jan-Lennard Struff, Dominik Koepfer, Peter Gojowczyk, Kevin Krawietz, Tim Puetz.

Austria: Dennis Novak, Jurij Rodionov, Gerald Melzer, Oliver Marach, Philipp Oswald.


https://www.espn.com/tennis/story/_/id/ ... ls-rosters

All it takes is one idiot to cause something like this. It's why so many weddings have been very small, immediate family and (maybe) attendants. The Pegula's being a sports family though does give me pause about how strictly mask mandates and/or vaccine status were enforced.

Domi was with Team Slovakia during one of their final trainings for BJK/Fed Cup.

It's rough with the ATP's ridiculously long schedule, but the Fed Cup's scheduling this week against a Masters is rough. I'm not sure when they'll be showing one of the matches from start to finish that isn't to win the whole thing. I know some of that is about not as many top players showing up this time, but Kerber vs. Krejcikova is one of the biggest ones they'll have and Tennis Channel didn't cut in to show anything besides match point not counting the 4-box match update coming back from a commercial breaks.

In Canada, we're getting all of Canada's matches vs. France and Russia on two nation-wide cable TV sports networks - one in English, one in French.
We're also getting Paris on two other nation-wide cable TV sports networks (again one English, and one French).

That said, I saw Abanda win Canada's first match over Ferro (not a high quality match from either player - Abanda pretty much gutted it out, with considerable help from Ferro), but haven't yet watched Marino vs. Cornet, or the doubles.

Canada beat France 2-1, with Dabrowski and Marino winning the doubles match over Cornet and Burel.
Neither team had their best players - Canada without Andreescu and Leylah, and France without Mladenovic and Garcia (Garcia is on the team, but did not play for some reason). While France was favoured - more because they're the defending champions than because of their current lineup -, I wouldn't call Canada's win an upset. The only 'upset' was Abanda beating Ferro - but that was an upset only insofar as rankings go - not a real upset to me.
Cornet beat Marino - no real surprise there.
And I think Canada would have been the favourites in doubles, if only because of Dabrowski's vast experience - and nice success - in that particular discipline.

Indeed, Gaby was the best player of the four - by far. And she played with full confidence and showed her leadership qualities. I was impressed. I remember telling her that she had great hands as a Junior - I figured she'd be a good doubles player... But the additional leadership qualities are a pleasant surprise.

And Sylvain Bruneau (ex Andreescu coach) has re-taken his role as captain of the team for this Final, as Heidi El-Tabakh, who took over the captaincy from Bruneau a few years ago, is off getting married. So Bruneau's been there plenty of times before, and knows what he's doing.

Russia is next for Canada. In that matchup, Canada are more the underdog than they were vs. France - but if this, too, is decided by the doubles, Canada has a legitimate chance. Getting there will be tough, though...
Last minute change for Canada as Abanda can't play because of a foot injury... so Carol Zhao replaces her in the first match vs. Kasatkina.
Zhao, who went the 'college route' and played for Stanford, is an intelligent and articulate individual who is also a rather accomplished singer/songwriter in her spare time.

Love the background - thanks! Maybe Zhao will have a chance against Ferro, if that's who she plays. Agree that Gaby is a big asset for Canada. Wasn't she touted as a potential top singles player, then injuries got in the way? Was she a top world junior when she was at Saddlebrook?

Deuce wrote: ↑Tue Nov 02, 2021 8:10 am Canada beat France 2-1, with Dabrowski and Marino winning the doubles match over Cornet and Burel.
Neither team had their best players - Canada without Andreescu and Leylah, and France without Mladenovic and Garcia (Garcia is on the team, but did not play for some reason). While France was favoured - more because they're the defending champions than because of their current lineup -, I wouldn't call Canada's win an upset. The only 'upset' was Abanda beating Ferro - but that was an upset only insofar as rankings go - not a real upset to me.
Cornet beat Marino - no real surprise there.
And I think Canada would have been the favourites in doubles, if only because of Dabrowski's vast experience - and nice success - in that particular discipline.

Indeed, Gaby was the best player of the four - by far. And she played with full confidence and showed her leadership qualities. I was impressed. I remember telling her that she had great hands as a Junior - I figured she'd be a good doubles player... But the additional leadership qualities are a pleasant surprise.

And Sylvain Bruneau (ex Andreescu coach) has re-taken his role as captain of the team for this Final, as Heidi El-Tabakh, who took over the captaincy from Bruneau a few years ago, is off getting married. So Bruneau's been there plenty of times before, and knows what he's doing.

Russia is next for Canada. In that matchup, Canada are more the underdog than they were vs. France - but if this, too, is decided by the doubles, Canada has a legitimate chance. Getting there will be tough, though...
Last minute change for Canada as Abanda can't play because of a foot injury... so Carol Zhao replaces her in the first match vs. Kasatkina.
Zhao, who went the 'college route' and played for Stanford, is an intelligent and articulate individual who is also a rather accomplished singer/songwriter in her spare time.

Old habits are hard to break...

But all's well that ends well...

meganfernandez wrote: ↑Tue Nov 02, 2021 1:14 pm Love the background - thanks! Maybe Zhao will have a chance against Ferro, if that's who she plays. Agree that Gaby is a big asset for Canada. Wasn't she touted as a potential top singles player, then injuries got in the way? Was she a top world junior when she was at Saddlebrook?

Zhao played a decent 1st set vs. Kasatkina, but the difference between the two players was evident in the 2nd set.
Marino took the 2nd set from Pavlyuchenkova, but the 3rd set wasn't close.

As for Gaby...
https://behindtheracquet.com/gaby-dabrowski/
(She can be rather rebellious at times.)

Collins is having a good tournament. She might be the MVP if the US Wins the cup. She said she played the perfect match against Sorribes Tormo to win 1 and 0, one of those days when everything worked. Now this.