Davis Cup Semi Finals

Great Britain v Argentina
France v Croatia

Well done to Del Potro and what you might argue is one of the biggest five or ten wins of his career. To beat Murray in Davis Cup play is no mean feat at all. THe longest match of either man's career. Wow.

For Juan Martin that has had major question marks on fitness/physicality not just since his comeback, but even before, this is surely a notably victory.

It could be the decisive moment in this tie, or perhaps even the whole tournament. Argentina has lost four finals, including three recently in 2006, 2009 and 2011. Del Potro lost to Lopez in the 2008 final, which was played in Argentina. With Nalbandian having beaten Ferrer in the opener, and Rafa not present, it was a great chance missed.

In 2011, away to Spain and Rafa was a trickier matter, and Del Potro lost both matches to Ferrer and Nadal. Del Potro has given a lot for his country and got two Olympics medals, but it would be nice to see him actually win a team tournament.

Looking at 2006, Nalbandian also beat Safin and Davydenko but his team lost 3-2. A little unlucky for Nalbandian that he never won the Davis Cup.

It looks like Nalbandian won all three singles rubbers he played in Davis Cup finals, and Del Potro lost all three.

TV in Chile did not cover this, but I look forward to seeing some highlights, it sounds like they might be worth a look.

Pella beats Edmund; 2-0.

It's a shame we won't be able to see Del Potro at the WTF. He is arguably one of the best 8 players in the world at the moment and had he played a fuller season to enable him to get the points, he might have been able to do some damage there.

Gasquet beats Coric in straights 1-0 to France

Cilic beats Pouille in straights 1-1

Had a feeling that Del Potro might win that encounter with Murray today - Murray's great season is finally catching up with him whilst DelPo may have had that tiny bit more of extra motivation (not that Murray ever plays without 100% commitment in his Davis Cup matches).

I thought Edmund looked a bit nervous at times in his match against Pella, rushing unnecessarily at times. Fair play to Pella though - played a tactically smart match, mixing it up when required, and v solid on the big points.

Provided Del Potro is OK physically after his long match against Andy, Argentina have to be overwhelming favourites from here (I think GB may win doubles though).

Del Potro is not a one dimensional tennis player as some have claimed. He actually reads the game very well and plays smart.

I couldn't begrudge Del Potro and Argentina winning the Davis Cup this year. France should also be very strong but at the moment they are playing without Tsonga or Monfils.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/tennis/37390155
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/tennis/37385089

Maybe Del Potro will have a good season next year and begin to challenge for the grand slams again.

Nore Staat wrote:Del Potro is not a one dimensional tennis player as some have claimed. 

That's because due to his injuries, he's been forced to become more varied. No way can her rely on just powerful forehand for 80% of the rallies, after his surgeries

Consequently, we have yet another varied player with power who is now great to watch

We could have a couple of years of him, Stan and the top two winning the slams

Silver lining for Murray is that now it seems unlikely that GB will be in the final, he can give his all at year-end championships and praps close the gap on Djoko.
I think if it had been last year's DC, Murray would have squeezed home against Delpo as it looked as if 2015 was going to be GB's year for winning it.
Bit different this year, with Murray already with a DC win under his belt, victory at Wimbledon and an Olympic gold. Also a bit weird for him to play the really big DC match on the Friday rather than the Sunday.
Full marks to Delpo, though. Great to see him back. Top 10 next year?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5M3xTLCo1Jw

The above link of 25 minutes of the match in high quality image could be useful for those of us outside the UK that can't access BBC website/iplayer highlights

Murray's on the spin forehand at 11:00 is worth a look if you don't watch the whole thing

It look like Murray was reverting to something that plagued the early years of his career: the excessive use of the drop shot, it cost him a break earlier when he did a second one on break point having already saved a break point with one. Check out the point at 15:23 for instance, Del Potro is already running forward before Murray has hit it, drop shots need to be sparing to retain the element of surprise

19:40 hot dog and Del Potro wins point (nothing special)

24:50 spectacular retrieving from Murray, but Del Potro does not bottle the smash

More impressed than ever with Del Potro's win after watching the highlights. The court wasn't fast enough to win with a limited game, and Murray hit to his backhand a lot. A lot of variety shown.

Although someone should show him how to hit a backhand down the line, I am honestly not sure if knows how to do it. Maybe when Murray went to the net but I didn't see a single one in a baseline rally.
http://www.tennis.com/pro-game/2016/02/del-potro-i-need-improve-my-backhand-soon-i-can/57666/

Btw, Murray can hit some really big first serves. You wonder while watching some of them if he ought to be able to hit these more consistently, as well as develop better second serves.

Game, set and match

A Murray/J Murray 6-1 3-6 6-4 6-4 Del Potro/Mayer

Posted at
13:29
http://www.bbc.com/sport/live/tennis/37165072

"Argentina have lost in the 2006, 2008 and 2011 Davis Cup finals.

The pressure on the class of 2016 to finally reel in the biggest trophy in sport is immense."

Someone call FIFA and tell them to cancel the next world cup. Apparently the Davis Cup is the biggest trophy in sport.

Murray - Del Potro was a great match. Murray didn't play badly at all, I think his numbers were over 70 winners for fewer than 50 UEs, so over 5 sets not bad at all, but Del Potro was that little bit better. Great to see the big man back to his best, or close enough.

Having said that, I'm amazed that Argentina played Del Potro today after those exertions. GB had little choice but to play the Murrays, having not picked Inglot in their team and it being a must-win game (I suppose Evans could have played in a pinch if GB had been 2 up). But for Argentina it was always going to be a tough match to win, so rather surprised they didn't give Del Potro a rest and pick whoever isn't playing the first singles tomorrow.

I reckon Andy will have enough left in the tank to get past Pella or Del Bonis, which means it could come down to the fifth match. Been a while since GB had one of those, and strong noises being made that Evans could come into the team for that one, offering Del Potro a different challenge.

I was a little disappointed by Edmund TBH. He has clear ability, solid BH and that FH can be a monster, but once things started going against him he never really recovered. I also get the feeling that he physically hits the wall after 2 1/2 sets or so, and this is not the first time it's happened. His legs sort of stopped moving, he was hardly jumping on his serves, no longer running around his BH, etc. Needs to work hard on his endurance IMO. Obviously he's still young, so plenty of time, and the signs are that he's happy to put the hard yards in, so he should be fine I think eventually.

I'd definitely stick Dan Evans in against Del Potro. He showed recently in the US Open he can trouble the big names in the sport but you feel Edmund is not quite at that stage.

After Kyle Edmund's heroics in the quarter-finals of the Davis Cup away to Serbia, winning both his singles matches, plus reaching round four of the US Open beating Gasquet & Isner in the process, Liam Smith had to play him.  

But Edmund has to more or less win in three sets: in Serbia he won in straight sets in both singles, at the US Open he won two of his three wins in straight sets, and one in four sets winning a fourth set tie breaker when it was clear he was rapidly losing energy (against Isner) and then being hammered in the next round by a "partial Djokovic".  

Edmund has some powerful ground strokes but he lacks endurance and court craft in difficult matches.   Dan Evans is now the obvious choice for the Del Potro tie.  Del Potro will hammer Edmund, but he will find Evans a much more trickier opponent.   Evans can do it - he had a match point against Stan Wawrinka at this years US Open.  Evans has greater endurance and much greater court craft and variation than Edmund ... but I think Del Potro himself is just too determined to let this one go, except physically he might break down.  If Del Potro does really suffer physically then it will be Evans who could exploit it (not Edmund).

That said Andy Murray is definitely jaded himself and it is not impossible for him to lose and so make this discussion rather academic. ... ps But the home crowd will help a physically jaded Murray.

Good call on resting Del Potro albeit easy to make the call after they lost. But now you mention it once you are 2-0 up you have got to back Del potro to beat Evans/Edmund if rested.

There's actually talk of Del Potro not playing tomorrow: apparently the man himself said "I have to be smart. I want to play for more years not just one more match." I desperately hope that's just as a result of his long match on Friday (and today's effort, to a lesser extent), and not that he's feeling the wrist at all. Could be mind games of course.

Might explain why he played today, he may have felt after yesterday he didn't have another singles match in him (doubles requiring considerably less effort of course), though still a bit puzzling. Obviously Argentina still have a very good chance even if he doesn't play. Pella could beat a jaded Murray, and Evans-Del Bonis is arguably 50-50.

I think that will have to be Evans tactic if he is up against Del Potro (and the tie is still live), try to lengthen every point, side to side and drop shots, to work on physically exhausting / damaging Del Potro.  Some say Fridays match was the longest for both Del Potro and Murray in their careers so could understand the need to protect Del Potro if he is withdrawn on the final day.

If they do withdraw Del Potro I suppose they would rather announce it after Murray's match rather than before it, because the news would give Murray additional motivation to win his tie. But yes, even if Del Potro is withdrawn it will still be difficult for the Brits.

I'm having a hard time believing that DP isn't playing today. I would have thought that the DC is his only real target for the rest of the year. However, it probably is the only thing that makes sense with him playing the doubles yesterday. I'd guess it's some lingering pain if so - I can't see him withdrawing through fatigue or as a precaution.

Without DP, I would probably have GB as narrow favourites, even at 1-2 down.

I would be gobsmacked if Del Potro doesn't play today I must say.

Murray in control.

CaledonianCraig wrote:I would be gobsmacked if Del Potro doesn't play today I must say.

So would I, but it is all a question of his fitness. If it is Del Potro vs Evans we know what the tactics will have to be. Del Potro has to bludgeon his serves to hold his serve as easily as possible while Evans has to hold on to his serve, and try to wear out Del Potro with variation and long rallies. It will be intriguing with a noisy crowd behind him. Let's hope Murray is able to survive this match and finish it in three sets.

Nore Staat wrote:

CaledonianCraig wrote:I would be gobsmacked if Del Potro doesn't play today I must say.

So would I, but it is all a question of his fitness.  If it is Del Potro vs Evans we know what the tactics will have to be.  Del Potro has to bludgeon his serves to hold his serve as easily as possible while  Evans has to hold on to his serve, and try to wear out Del Potro with variation and long rallies.  It will be intriguing with a noisy crowd behind him.  Let's hope Murray is able to survive this match and finish it in three sets.

I agree. The BBC coverage seem to be supporting the theory that Del Potro will not play but will that change if Murray wins?

Heck of an effort from Murray.

And so it in confirmed it will be Leonardo Mayer against Dan Evans in the deciding rubber. Very surprised.

CaledonianCraig wrote:And so it in confirmed it will be Leonardo Mayer against Dan Evans in the deciding rubber. Very surprised.

Maybe Del Potro is an honest character but agree I thought he would make it.  It does seem like after Murray's Match it was clear to him and maybe the team that it was too much of a risk to play another singles match - risk of breaking down and losing.  But would be okay for the doubles where his perhaps reduced mobility would not be too much of an issue.



Leonardo Martin Mayer (born May 15, 1987) is an Argentine professional tennis player.
Mayer achieved a career-high singles ranking of world No. 21 in June 2015 and world No. 58 in doubles in September 2015.  He is coached by Francisco Yunis.  He was born in Corrientes and resides in Buenos Aires.

Highest ranking
No. 21 (22 June 2015)

Current ranking
No. 122 (1August 2016)

Meyer has played 16 matches in the Davis Cup winning 12 and losing 4.

Meyer played in the doubles match so has had his warm up match.

Nore Staat wrote:

CaledonianCraig wrote:And so it in confirmed it will be Leonardo Mayer against Dan Evans in the deciding rubber. Very surprised.

Maybe Del Potro is an honest character but agree I thought he would make it.  It does seem like after Murray's Match it was clear to him and maybe the team that it was too much of a risk to play another singles match - risk of breaking down and losing.  But would be okay for the doubles where his perhaps reduced mobility would not be too much of an issue.



Leonardo Martin Mayer (born May 15, 1987) is an Argentine professional tennis player.
Mayer achieved a career-high singles ranking of world No. 21 in June 2015 and world No. 58 in doubles in September 2015.  He is coached by Francisco Yunis.  He was born in Corrientes and resides in Buenos Aires.

Highest ranking
No. 21 (22 June 2015)

Current ranking
No. 122 (1August 2016)

Meyer has played 16 matches in the Davis Cup winning 12 and losing 4.

Meyer played in the doubles match so has had his warm up match.

As John Lloyd was just saying though why play the doubles? Rest for a day and come out for the singles in a slightly fresher state and he'd have been warm favourite to win against either Edmund or Evans. Granted though Meyer is no mug and question is how will Evans cope with the huge pressure on his shoulders? At the US Open the best came from him (as it did a few years ago) as underdog with low expectations. That won't be the case now. A big test of whether Dan Evans can go to the next level today.

CaledonianCraig wrote:As John Lloyd was just saying though why play the doubles? Rest for a day and come out for the singles in a slightly fresher state and he'd have been warm favourite to win against either Edmund or Evans. Granted though Meyer is no mug and question is how will Evans cope with the huge pressure on his shoulders? At the US Open the best came from him (as it did a few years ago) as underdog with low expectations. That won't be the case now. A big test of whether Dan Evans can go to the next level today.

Agree.  Del Potro lite would have hammered Edmund (IMO) while he would have been favourite to beat Evans. Evans has the ability to raise his level as indicated by his match against Stan the man. But Del Potro has the ability to overpower Evans.

With Evans stepping up and Kyle Edmund's continued progression they have rather put to bed the disappointment of Bedene not being allowed to represent Britain in the Davis Cup, despite him being a British citizen (hence able to represent Britain in the Olympics).

Sadly, looks like this tie is quickly slipping away from GB. Evans has no answer to Meyer at present. Evans won the first set but since then Meyer has taken over and leads 4-6 6-3 4-1.

Argentina's second players are more solid than Britain's second players.  That's the key.  Britain getting to a semi-final was a fantastic achievement.  Evans and Edmund still have a long way to go - only recently have they broken into the top 100. It has been another successful year for British tennis - we now have seven players in the top 100. There is Murray and then there are the others that need to consolidate their achievements.

Good final: Argentina and Croatia. Del Potro & Cilic plus ... good second players. Seems a fairly balanced final.

to wrap up the other semi

source: http://www.france24.com/en/20160918-croatia-beat-france-davis-cup-final

Croatia sealed their ticket to the Davis Cup final after Marin Cilic's three sets victory over Richard Gasquet gave them an unassailable 3-1 lead over nine-time champions France in Zadar.

Gasquet, 17th in the world, was drafted in after Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Gael Monfils pulled out with knee injuries.

Croatia had taken command of the tie in Saturday's doubles when Cilic and Ivan Dodig downed top-ranked French pair Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Nicolas Mahut 7-6 (8/6), 5-7, 7-6 (8/6), 6-3 after the two sides split the opening singles on Friday.

Nore Staat wrote:Argentina's second players are more solid than Britain's second players.  That's the key.  Britain getting to a semi-final was a fantastic achievement.  Evans and Edmund still have a long way to go - only recently have they broken into the top 100.  It has been another successful year for British tennis - we now have seven players in the top 100.  There is Murray and then there are the others that need to consolidate their achievements.

Agree with this

Edmund and Evans, simply cannot do two 'pressure cooker' events in the space of two weeks. In this way, they are like all their peers, who these days struggle mentally with the pressure - leading to the great inconsistencies in the sport at present