Davis Cup 2018

Seeing as we're going to have the new fangled mess of a format from next year, this year's contest takes on an extra significance - the final contest in the good old traditional format. For the record I do think the Davis Cup needed to adapt but not in the way thats being proposed. I would have gone for keeping the existing format, but running the finals once every 2 years, which would have made it a bit more special and allowed more time to fit in the various rounds without being crammed in too much right after the slams.

France are taking on a Nadal-less Spain at home on fast indoor courts - you'd probably give France the nod but they have chosen the extremely unpredictable Paire, which could backfire. Elsewhere, Croatia are taking on the US at home (on clay), and have already gone 1-0 up, following Coric's win over Johnson. Its asking a lot for Tiafoe to beat Cilic, so the Croats could be up 2-0 at end of today and have to be favourites to win this tie (I'm tipping them to with the Davis Cup this year).

MrInvisible wrote:Seeing as we're going to have the new fangled mess of a format from next year, this year's contest takes on an extra significance - the final contest in the good old traditional format.  For the record I do think the Davis Cup needed to adapt but not in the way thats being proposed.  I would have gone for keeping the existing format, but running the finals once every 2 years, which would have made it a bit more special and allowed more time to fit in the various rounds without being crammed in too much right after the slams.

France are taking on a Nadal-less Spain at home on fast indoor courts - you'd probably give France the nod but they have chosen the extremely unpredictable Paire, which could backfire.  Elsewhere, Croatia are taking on the US at home (on clay), and have already gone 1-0 up, following Coric's win over Johnson.  Its asking a lot for Tiafoe to beat Cilic, so the Croats could be up 2-0 at end of today and have to be favourites to win this tie (I'm tipping them to with the Davis Cup this year).

Yes I agree Mr Invisible on new format not going to work and that a final every two years would have been better. Perhaps do like in football and have qualifying groups drawn out. With three teams in each group with the winner of each group going through to the next stage and after that next stage a Final the following year.

Well done to Dan Evans - he really ups his level in the Davis Cup.   Leon Smith always seems to get his selections spot on and gets the best out of them.  Cameron Norrie two sets up and a break up in the third against Karimov in the second match.

No name Bertie wrote:Well done to Dan Evans - he really ups his level in the Davis Cup.   Leon Smith always seems to get his selections spot on and gets the best out of them.  Cameron Norrie two sets up and a break up in the third against Karimov in the second match.

Rest of the match didn’t go so well...

Born Slippy wrote:

No name Bertie wrote:Well done to Dan Evans - he really ups his level in the Davis Cup.   Leon Smith always seems to get his selections spot on and gets the best out of them.  Cameron Norrie two sets up and a break up in the third against Karimov in the second match.

Rest of the match didn’t go so well...

Yes I thought Norrie disintegrated somewhat towards the end of the fourth and in the fifth set. Disappointing and a tough loss to take having served for the match but losing it.

DC had to change and one solution was to stop playing it every year. What other major international tournament - soccer World Cup, cricket and rugby world cups, Olympics, soccer Euros, - is played EVERY year?
Norrie had an MP in last night's match but I still think GB can win this tie. GB has lost the one they probably thought they would win and won the hard one so far.

sirfredperry wrote:DC had to change and one solution was to stop playing it every year. What other major international tournament - soccer World Cup, cricket and rugby world cups, Olympics, soccer Euros,  - is played EVERY year?
  Norrie had an MP in last night's match but I still think GB can win this tie. GB has lost the one they probably thought they would win and won the hard one so far.  

I think everyone agrees it needed to change but just not what it has changed in to. Many pros and tennis associations have voiced their displeasure at the proposed changes that were passed basically to make as much bucks as possible and to hell with the consequences. That cannot and should not be right.

CC - "to make as much bucks as possible" . Also sounds like the rationale behind this ludicrous 100-ball cricket tournament that is coming in in 2020.
France and Croatia are both 2-0 up in the DC semis and should make the final now.

sirfredperry wrote:CC - "to make as much bucks as possible" . Also sounds like the rationale behind this ludicrous 100-ball cricket tournament that is coming in in 2020.

Indeed.

I am awaiting the next phase - micro cricket of ten overs per side.

Not sure what happened with Norrie, I guess Karimov just upped his level, and Norrie got tired or something.

A crucial win in the Doubles for Inglot and Murray in four sets put GB 2-1 up with the final singles tomorrow. GB should get the job done.

A couple of doubles rubbers today illustrated everything that's brilliant about the Davis Cup and what is likely to be lost in the new fangled format from next year. Firstly, Mike Bryan comes out of retirement at age 40 to team up with Ryan Harrison and give USA a crucial hard-fought 5 set victory in the doubles to keep the World Group semi-final tie against Croatia alive.

Not to be outdone, Lleyton Hewitt played out of his skin by all accounts in the doubles to keep the Australians in the tie, away on clay in Austria, whilst Shapovalov came back from 2 sets down to defeat Haase in the Canada v Netherlands tie.

Cameron Norrie seals the win for GB trouncing Sanjar Fayziev 6-2 6-2 6-0. The win means that they will be one of the seeded teams for the poorly revamped Davis Cup next year.

What is it with sports' organisers ? The soccer World Cup awarded to Qatar and due to be expanded to God knows how many teams. The European Cup is called the Champions League. So is it only for nations' champions? No, for pity's sake, it's not. You can come FOURTH and get in it.
They call the old second division in football the Championship when clearly it isn't. They introduce a 100-ball cricket match when they already have a perfectly good T20 competition. There is a proposal to have four-day Tests. And now they're fiddling around with the Davis Cup.

I haven't looked into how the Davis Cup will change - I thought it was just a proposal that might not go through / or would require more work to overcome the objections to it.  So not sure who were the driving force behind the particular changes and what were the "killer arguments" used.

Tennis itself will go through a major change when the elite tennis players start to retire that made the last 15 years the strongest era in Mens tennis and which threw up titanic battles between Federer - Nadal - then Djokovic with Murray not too far behind, with Wawrinka playing a supporting role, and Cilic and a post-injured Del Potro bringing up the rear. Söderling also had a small contribution in this era.

Not sure how tennis as a sport will be able to maintain its global popularity. To a large extent the women's tennis has piggy-backed on the popularity of the Mens game - but the women's game has been allowed to get very indulgent (for example I can no longer watch it - too noisy - too many apparently using screaming as a tactic to unsettle their opponent ...).

Fantastic 5 set win for Coric over Tiafoe to see Croatia through 3-2 after USA had recovered from 0-2 to 2-2. Great match and what we will miss with next years changes.

Extraordinary semi final. Cilic was a set up and 6-1 up in second set tiebreak but lost that and the next two sets.
Coric was 4-0 up in the third set of his match but lost a 13-11 tiebreak and then had to win the next two sets.
You may have seen that Ramos was in action again after Cilic smashed his racquet.

Indeed, USA almost pulled off improbable win from 2-0 down in the tie - that Tiafoe v Coric match in the 5th rubber sounds like it was an absolute humdinger. At the start of the year I was tipping USA to win Davis Cup but Croatia away on the clay was too tough in the end even though they came v close to pulling it off.

Probably fitting though that Croatia v France give us our historic last ever final of the 'proper' Davis Cup, as both these teams have been v consistent over the past few years. I'd like Croatia to win the final - revenge over the World Cup final plus they will be underdogs as the away team.