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AMERICAN WORRY ABOUT FACING SLOVAKS ON CLAY
PMac: It's put up or shut up time for US Davis Cup team
By Matthew Cronin
tennisreporters.net
Siggi Bucher
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If the US is to be a serious force in Davis Cup again, it's time for kiddy corps of Andy Roddick, James Blake, Taylor Dent, Mardy Fish and Robby Ginepri to climb out of the sandbox and on to the monkey bars.
After the US Davis Cup team drew an away match against the Slovak Republic in the World group Davis Cup playoff Sept. 19-21 at a site to be determined, US captain Patrick McEnroe said that his team cannot use youth and inexperience as an excuse any longer. He believes that his squad – which has lost its last three away ties – has it in them to win the whole shebang.
" I think so. I really do," said McEnroe, whose teams have lost in the first round two of the last three years and reached the semis in 2002. "I said it and I honestly believe it, that we had a chance to do some real damage this year. But, it's time. It's put-up or shut-up time basically. It's enough of 'we're young' and enough of 'we're getting experience.' That has to start from me and my expectations of the team. I told them that after we lost in Croatia. 'It's time for us to perform. You guys are young, but you've all been out there now for a couple of years, and it's time to enjoy what we're doing.' We always want these guys to enjoy the Davis Cup experience, but we've got to be professionals. This is tough. You don't go on the road and just have fun and think it's going to be all fun and games and you're going to win. You have to go out there with the toughness and an attitude. The excuses that we're young and we're getting experience, I think we've used all them up."
The US and the Slovak Republic met in the first round of the '02 Davis Cup in Oklahoma City, with the US winning 5-0. However, neither of the Slovak Republic's top two players ¨ Karol Kucera and Dominik Hrbaty ¨ played. It is highly probable that the Slovaks will play the tie on red clay, where the US is vulnerable. In the '02 semis, the US fell to France at Roland Garros on dirt. McEnroe said that the team cannot afford to get rattled.
MORE VERSATILITY FOR CLAY
"You have to be able to go on the road and win," McEnroe said. "You have to be able to go and play on different surfaces and win. You have to have versatility. Obviously, you need the maturity of going to outside your country and playing well and winning. We haven't proven that we can do that yet with this team. Do I think we can? Yeah, I know we can, and I know we will. But we have to go out there and do it and we have to prove it. We've had some tough losses on the road, we've had some experiences that should help us in detailing what we're going to face when we go to the Slovak Republic. Now it's just another year under our belt and another tough loss that we all had to swallow. So you hope that our guys are mature enough and have enough experience now that when we go into that situation it's not going to be a surprise that you're getting bad calls and that people are whistling when you're about to hit a serve. That's the way it is. It's hard to really be prepared for that until you experience it. This is a big test for us. They've got good, veteran players. But this is a match that we should win. I think once we get a win on the road, that will really help us confidence-wise, and go into next year and say, 'We can legitimately win it next year.' "
US Davis Cup coach Jim Courier said that the players need to grow up, but remains hopeful.
"These guys are young and they're largely inexperienced, particularly in away ties, Courier said. "We've yet to win a road tie that I've been associated with and that's going to change as our players mature. … There's been a lot of pressure thrown on them now because of the history of the Davis Cup. In America, we've always has a veteran team that brought in the rookies and let them gradually grow into a playing role. The last couple times it's just been the rookies, except for Todd [Martin] playing the doubles. They've done very well on home soil but have had some tough lessons on the road. Hopefully, we'll learn. But as long as the guys keep improving and playing better on tour, we'll be able to get them through their Davis Cup matches mentally."
Unless Andre Agassi changes his mind and decides to play Davis Cup again ¨ which is highly unlikely ¨ McEnroe will likely trot out Roddick and Blake in singles again, both of who could be tired from a long two weeks at the US Open and both who have shown potential on European clay, but are unproven. Against the French last September, Roddick lost to both Arnaud Clement and Sebastian Grosjean, while Blake fell to Grosjean. While Kucera and Hrbaty aren't as flashy on clay as the Frenchmen, both have won titles on dirt and Hrbaty reached the '99 Roland Garros semis. McEnroe said his team is at a disadvantage, but should pull through.
AMERICAN MENTALITY IS TO ATTACK
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"We gave the French a good match," he said. "We didn't win, but we certainly were in every match. We didn't get blown out. We've got some guys that can seriously play on clay. [But] you don't want to lose sight of the fact that we're Americans and we like to go for it. Our mentality is to be attacking players. Courier and Agassi, they played well on clay but they played an attacking style. You don't want to go against what our core attitude is, which is, 'We're going to win the point rather than wait till you lose it.' Think there's a balance there of still saying, 'We're going to play ourgame,' but, 'We think we can play our game and still be successful on clay.' "
There's still five months left before PMac has to name a team, which will give the boys in the locker room plenty of time to debate whether he should add a doubles team like the Bryan Brothers, add a veteran like Todd Martin to play doubles (who teamed with Blake for a win over France last year), or go with backup singles guys like Fish and Ginepri, who have the makings of decent clay court players.
Given that the Bryans haven't played that well on clay, it appears the twins will have to wait until 2004 to get another chance to be selected. If the Slovaks happen to choose a fast surface, they'll have a better shot.
"I've always said if the Bryan brothers go and win Wimbledon and win the US Open and are a dominant doubles team, I'm going to give them even more consideration," McEnroe said. "I give them
consideration now, but they're not a dominant doubles team. That's just the bottom line. They're a very good doubles team. I watched them again in Miami, I watched them in Palm Springs. They're doing well, they win matches every week. They don't dominate. If they're not dominating and winning a major or two a year, it's too big a risk to take if they can't play singles. If Bob Bryan steps up and is playing good singles and is a Top 100 singles players, then maybe that changes the mix a little bit."
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