THE tennisreporters.net NEWSLETTER: WEDNESDAY, MARCH 18, NO, 77

PMac: 'Swaggering' Fish frontrunner for Davis Cup No. 2 spot
'But if Blake wins the tournament, it's hard to ignore that'
Says USTA should go off rankings for Olympics

By Matthew Cronin
tennisreporters.net

Siggi Bucher

Susan Mullane/Camerawork USA

© Mark Lyons

Pat McEnroe will give the "thumbs-up" to either Blake or Fish.

FROM THE PACIFIC LIFE OPEN AT INDIAN WELLS – It appears that James Blake will have top beat Irake Labadze in the quarters on Friday and Andy Roddick or Tim Henman in the semis in order to have a serious shot at making the Davis Cup team.

The US squad will take on the dangerous Swedes April 9-11 in Delray Beach, Fla.

Blake has already knocked Robby Ginepri and Taylor Dent out of contention with his wins over his compatriots here. But according to US Davis Cup captain Pat McEnroe, San Jose finalist Mardy Fish is the clear frontrunner based on his recent body of work.

"James has played himself into contention by beating Robby and Taylor. I feel like James has been playing well enough to get the job done," McEnroe told tennisreporters.net. "But in my mind over the last month, Mardy's been the second best guy playing after Andy. But if James wins the tournament, then it's hard for me to ignore that. That's why I can't make my decision now."

Plus, McEnroe still has strong, positive memories of Fish's clutch win of the Slovak Republic on clay last September and not so good memories of Blake's collapse against Croatia in February of 2003.

"That counts a lot for Mardy. To be able to do that in that situation was huge," said McEnroe,. who keenly watched Fish's first pumping win over Andre Agassi in San Jose a month ago. "I like Mardy's attitude. He has a little swagger now. That was a hell of a win."

Let's remember that Fish did go down in 6-4, 6-1 to top-ranked Roger Federer in the third round here. Fish played a very respectable first set but missed some key shots in the final game of the first set, when he was worn down and broken mentally in an eight-deuce game. Since Federer has only lost one match this year, Fish's defeat could be seen by some as a one-off.

"Mardy played a good first set and then mentally lost it," McEnroe said. "He's played well here and I was impressed by his win over Jiri Novak. He's progressing and has a good chance to be in Top 10. He was in the San Jose final, semis of Memphis and although he lost to Joachim Johansson there, he's beaten him twice before. He doesn't have many points to defend to until Wimbledon and is in a good position to make a move."

BLAKE'S DOWN YEAR IS TURNING AROUND
Up until this event, Blake has had a less than inspiring year, save for giving Marat Safin a tussle in Australia. He lost to Labadze in Memphis three weeks ago and to Vince Spadea in Scottsdale, failing to close when the door was open. But maybe the 24-year-old is coming around again, or it could be just be that he likes to inhale that flaming desert air. McEnroe says that Blake is thinking better.

"What It's Blake vs. Fish for a shot at Sweden in the Davis Cup.I was happy with against Taylor is how smart James played. I feel like sometimes he takes too many big risks. He played within himself, came to net. He has to do that consistently and to back where I think he should be."

The off-court scuttlebutt has been that Blake's coach, Brian Barker from the Trumbull (Conn.) Racquet Club, has taken his student as far as he is going to and that Blake needs to seriously considering bringing in another teacher. Blake is fiercely loyal to Barker, so that may not occur, but recall how close Andy Roddick was to Tariq Benhabiles, who was shown the door nonetheless after Roddick bombed at '03 Roland Garros.

That issue is a hot potato that McEnroe is not going to touch in public 12 days before he has to name his squad.

"I've heard that [the Barker rumor] but my relationship with these guys is to be the support guy, to help them, give them input when they want it, and when they don't, sometimes they tell me to shut up," McEnroe said. "Those are all their decisions. I'm smart enough to know that Davis Cup is important to them, but it's not their whole career."

Blake and Fish are close friends, so neither of them are going too say that the other one is incapable of posting up a win against Sweden.

"You can't take anything away from Mardy," Blake said. "He lost to Federer who right now is playing as good as anyone I've ever seen. I happened to play well against the guys I've been put across the net from. Mardy has had a great year, as well. That's why I say, I'd be confident if Patrick picked him, but I'd be most confident if he picked me."

McEnroe said that the Roddick and the Bryan Bros. are locks to be named to the team. He has to make the call by the second Tuesday of the NASDAQ-100, which means that his boy's results in Miami likely won't mean much.

USTA should go off rankings for Olympics
If it's up to McEnroe, the USTA will go off the rankings when it names its four singles and two doubles teams for the Olympics at the end of June. THE USTA does not have to do so.

As of today, the team would consist of Roddick, Fish, 29-year-old Vince Spadea and Ginepri. Andre Agassi has said he won't play.

"I feel it should go by the rankings," McEnroe. "I feel a little but differently than I do about Davis Cup, where if it was, James would have played in Bratislava and Mardy would have played in Connecticut. For the Olympics, you're talking about an opportunity every four years and the guys know they have 12 months. It should come down strictly to the rankings. If Vince is ranked in the Top 4, he should be on the team."