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2007-10-05 18:16:28
Another exciting Davis Cup weekend has come to an end. Another weekend full of shocking upsets, ecstatic home crowds and newly born heroes. In my opinion, the four Davis Cup weekends are among the absolute highlights of the tennis year. I fell in love with this competition during my childhood and to me, it is the most important tournament outside of the Grand Slams. Actually, it shouldn’t even be compared to individual tournaments. The Davis Cup is the rare competition where individual players who are used to playing for themselves get the opportunity to be part of a team and represent their nation. Some players love it and rise to the occasion, whereas others fail to the immense pressure of having the expectations of a whole nation on their shoulders.
During the past weekend, I had the opportunity to watch Sweden play USA in Göteborg. The tie was played at Scandinavium, a venue filled with good memories for the Swedish team – and not so nice ones for the opponents from the other side of the Atlantic Ocean. In fact, this was the fifth time that the two nations have squared off in this multi sport arena. The Americans won in 1978, but then went on a three match losing streak in 1984, 1994 and 1997. The classic win in 1984 is one of the biggest moments in Swedish sports history during the 20th century. The American team consisted of the two top singles players at the time, John McEnroe and Jimmy Connors, as well as the top ranked doubles team of Peter Flemming and McEnroe. Despite this, the Swedish youngsters Mats Wilander (20 years old), Henrik Sundström (20), Stefan Edberg (18) and Anders Järryd (22) secured the Swedish victory already after day two.
This time around, the American squad proved to be a too tough obstacle, closing out the match in Sunday’s first reverse singles. I was very much looking forward to seeing Joachim “Pim-Pim” Johansson’s comeback on Friday, and the big server didn’t disappoint me or any of the other spectators. Pim-Pim has at several occasions showed how strong he is mentally, and I was very impressed to once again see him appear as a player without any nerves, this despite having been away from any action for the past eight months. Andy Roddick came in to Göteborg as the best ranked player from the two teams, and he certainly proved his class showcasing his powerful serves on the fast carpet. The taraflex surface seems to have been custom made to fit Thomas Johansson, who once again played a super good match to down James Blake in four sets.
The big hero during the weekend was a 22-year old Israeli, who was involved in one of the eight play-off matches around the world. Dudi Sela, with a world ranking of 109, managed to beat both Nicolas Massu and Fernando Gonzalez after more than ten hours of grueling tennis. The match against Massu was something as unusual as a four set match going over the five hour mark. The third set lasted 1 hour and 49 minutes during which one game consisted of a total of 32 points! Sela’s wins were not only impressive because of his highly regarded opponents. The Chileans are also known to be big team players and usually bring out their best fighting efforts in these circumstances. The Israeli shock win was completed as doubles specialists Erlich/Ram won another crazy match against Massu/Gonzalez, only four minutes short of the five hour mark. What a tough weekend for Massu battling for ten plus hours without winning a match. And what a great weekend for Sela and the Israelis as they advance to the World Group for the first time in 13 years.
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