The US entered their first round matchup with Great Britain riding a winning streak of four ties against the Brits and not having lost to them since 1935. Additionally the British hadn’t won a World Group first round tie since 1986. We knew that Andy Murray was a heavy favorite to beat both Americans and with the Bryan brothers as big favorites on Saturday in the doubles rubber it seemed likely this would come down to James Ward’s play as the #2 singles player for the Brits. Could Ward steal a rubber and take the tie for Great Britain?
Well we were right… it did come down to Ward, and amazingly it came down to his first matchup. It wasn’t his Sunday rubber with the #2 US singles player where he made his mark, it was his Friday rubber against #1 US singles player Sam Querrey where Ward stole a match and basically gave Great Britain the tie.
James Ward was the difference maker for Great Britain with his upset of Sam Querrey on Friday.
Querrey started off his match with Ward in great fashion taking set one quickly with a 6-1 win. Set two was much more competitive and came down to a tiebreak where Ward was able to even things with a 7-3 tiebreak win, the first sign of trouble for Querrey. Querrey came back to win set three 6-3 and even held a 4-2 lead in set four before the wheels came off. Ward went on to win 10 of the final 11 games, winning four straight to take set four 6-4 and then winning set five 6-1. It was a distasteful turn of events for Querrey and the US.
Sam Querrey’s loss to James Ward on Friday ultimately doomed the US vs. Great Britain
Querrey did give a strong effort on Sunday against Murray as he forced a tiebreaker in both of the first two sets. He lost the first 7-5 before winning the second 7-3 to even things at one set each. Murray then shut the door dominating the rest of the way en route to a 6-1 and 6-3 wins in the final two sets to clinch things for Great Britain.
What does this mean for the US?
It means that instead of trying to reach the final for the first time since 2007 the US now is focused on not falling out of the World Group. Its’ been 26 years since the US was not playing in the World Group and they don’t want to end that streak anytime soon. The US will play in one of the World Group playoffs in September against a country still to be determined. Potential opponents will be determined after the next round of play in early April. The US will be one of the eight seeded teams in the draw and so we know the US won’t face any of the top eight ranked teams that are involved with the playoffs. If the favorites win in April the eight teams in the un-seeded pool should be Austria, Croatia, Brazil, Ukraine, Israel, Uzbekistan, India and the Dominican Republic. The US could have to travel for the tie, and depending on the matchup it could be a bit tricky, but the US will likely be favored no matter what.
The US right now is not a great men’s tennis country and anytime they face off against an opponent with one of the best players in the world the margin is going to be thin. The US had some bad luck in drawing one of the few countries that aren’t among the top eight in the world and still have one of the very top players. The US also were without their best player in John Isner who might have had a better chance to upset Andy Murray. Hopefully Isner is healthy for the US come September and the US can keep their place in the World Group for 2015.
The US will face Great Britain (And ANDY MURRAY!) in the First Round of the Davis Cup this weekend. The matchup is being played on the famous clay court of Petco Park. Yes, Petco Park, the home of the San Diego Padres. The US decided to host this match there and built a clay court and grandstands in leftfield of Petco Park to play on.
The US will take on a Great Britain team featuring world #6 Andy Murray this weekend in San Diego
For those who don’t know, the Davis Cup is the yearly men’s tennis tournament that pits nation against nation. It began in 1900 with a matchup between… the US and Great Britain. It’s grown by leaps and bounds and now has 130 countries competing in it. The US is the most successful country having won 32 title and finishing as runner-up another 29 times, but only twice since 1997 has the US reached the final.
Obviously the US isn’t the strongest men’s tennis country anymore. The top 12 players in the world include two Spaniards, two Swiss, two French, a Serbian, an Argentinian, a Brit, a Czechoslovakian, a Canadian, a German… but no Americans. But the Americans are still a decent country in men’s tennis and are certainly capable of beating Great Britain.
Now for a word on quick word on how the Davis Cup works. All matches between countries are in a best of five format with each match being a best of five with no tiebreaker in the 5th set. One match (the 3rd held of the five) will be a doubles match while the other four are singles matches featuring two singles players from each country with the players switching opponents for their second match. Whichever country can win three of the five matches wins the matchup.
The best 16 countries in the world compete in the World Group. The countries will face off in the first round this weekend with the winners moving into the quarterfinals in early April. The losers? Well the result is a little less fun for them. They will be forced to play another country in September that is challenging to get into the World Group. If you lose that match you fall from the World Group for next year and are forced to play in your Zonal Region for a chance to challenge back into the World Group again.
Last year Great Britain was stuck in the European Zonal Regional before a 3-2 win over Russia got them into the World Group Playoffs where they defeated Croatia 4-1 to qualify for the 2014 World Group. As for the US, they have been part of the World Group for every tournament since 1989, a record for the most straight years in the World Group. In 2013 they won in the first round 3-2 over Brazil before losing 3-1 to Serbia in the quarterfinals.
So the first round match is pretty important for the US. Getting a win here guarantees World Group play in 2015 while a loss would see the US have to play a World Group Playoff in September. The US has only had to play in the playoffs four times since they rejoined the World Group in 1989. The most recent playoff was against Colombia in 2010 where the US won 3-1.
USA vs. Great Britain – Who’s playing who?
So now that you know what’s at stake for the US we can get down to talking about who will be taking part in this matchup. The US wanted to go with their two top singles players, 13th ranked John Isner and 49th ranked Sam Querrey, and that was the plan, at least publicly, up until Thursday. That’s when the US announced that Isner, who suffered an ankle injury earlier in the month that forced him to withdraw from the Australian Open, would be replaced in the team by Donald Young. Young had a fairly good Australian Open where he reached the 3rd round and is the third highest ranked American at #79 right now. He’s certainly a very capable player, but he’s not John Isner. For the doubles match the US doesn’t have any issues as they can turn to the world #1 duo of brothers Bob and Mike Bryan.
The American #1 will be Sam Querrey, currently the second highest ranked American in the world.
For Great Britain the first singles choice is really really easy. It’s Andy Murray, currently the world #6 in that spot. Murray might be ranked even higher but he had back surgery in the fall and missed some tournaments where he would have accumulated ranking points. Their second player was a tougher choice and they went with James Ward who is currently ranked #175. He’s just slightly the third ranked Brit right now behind Daniel Evans (146th). For the doubles match they chose to pair Andy Murray (who doesn’t play a lot of doubles but is #97 in the world) with Colin Fleming (33rd). Murray and Fleming have teamed up twice in the last year in doubles play. They played in the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 Canada event in May (a big tournament) and reached the final defeating four different top-twenty doubles along the way. They also played in the Davis Cup playoff against Croatia where they defeated Ivan Dodig/Mate Pavic. So they are certainly not to be taken lightly.
World #175 James Ward might have to pull an upset if the British have any chance of knocking off the US.
So your schedule for this weekend is as follows. All the matches will be on the Tennis Channel, so if you get that you’ll be able to watch!
Friday starting at 2 PM ET:
Match 1 – Donald Young vs. Andy Murray
Match 2 – Sam Querrey vs. James Ward
Saturday starting at 3 PM ET:
Match 3 – Bob Bryan/Mike Bryan vs. Andy Murray/Colin Fleming
Sunday starting at 2 PM ET:
Match 4 – Sam Querrey vs. Andy Murray
Match 5 – Donald Young vs. James Ward
The USA does hold an 11-7 advantage over Great Britain in Davis Cup play, but only three of those matchups were after 1937 and Great Britain has not won since 1935.
USA vs. Great Britain – How do they matchup?
Andy Murray has taken on Donald Young three times, all in 2011. Murray did beat Young in the second two matchups but the first one went to Young in straight sets in the Indian Wells Masters tournament. Murray was going through a somewhat rough stretch though as he lost to another player outside the top 100 in his next match as well.
Sam Querrey has faced James Ward just once in his career. That matchup, in June 2011, was a major upset of the 28th ranked Querrey by Ward who was ranked 216th at the time. Querrey was struggling with injuries at the time and didn’t play another match for three months after that.
Murray has faced the Bryan brothers four times, though never with Colin Fleming, and never won with only a single set won. Their last matchup came in April 2012. Fleming has faced the Bryan brothers seven times, most recently in August 2013 in the quarterfinals of the US Open. The Bryans won in straight sets on that date and have beaten Fleming six straight times with the only loss in June 2009 at the Aegon Championship.
Querrey has battled Murray on six occasions, most recently in August 2012 in the Cincinnati Masters 2nd round where Murray won in straight sets. Querrey’s only victory over Murray came in Los Angeles in July 2010 in a final. It was the only time that Querrey has taken a set off of Murray.
Ward and Young have never met before on the ATP tour.
The Bryan brothers (Mike and Bob) are the best doubles team in the world. They’ll look to win the doubles match for the US on Saturday afternoon.
Well it would seem to be pretty easy to call favorites in three of these five matches. Andy Murray is certainly going to be favored in both of his matches while the US doubles team of Bob and Mike Bryan would seem to be better. That leaves the matches between Sam Querrey/Donald Young and James Ward. The US has the higher ranked players in each matchup, but if Murray can take care of his two singles matches Great Britain would need Ward to upset only one of the two to win the match. I don’t expect it to happen though, a home crowd for the USA should help push their players and both Young and Querrey played well in the Australian Open.
I’ll be tweeting updates on whatever matches I’m able to watch live on @WeSupportTheUS and I’ll post recaps as well over the weekend.
