Well it was quite a day for me today as I was out over at Braehead arena once again to see the next Davis Cup tie, as it was the final deciding day of the tie, to see who would progress on through Africa/Europe Group I, which saw Great Britain take on Slovakia. And it was quite an exciting weekend of tennis, not to mention a very very tightly contested tie on both sides. So here's a quick recap on the weekend's results.
On day one, Friday, we had the two singles rubbers between the top two players of GB and Slovakia, which saw the young Dan Evans fill in for Andy Murray, who was absent from the tie due to injury, and James Ward also. And to everone's astonishment and my own, Dan Evans really came into his own in his first rubber match, and despite being ranked as 276 in the world, Dan managed to take the match to their Slovak's No.1 player, Lucas Lacko (who looks across between Rafa and Jay from the Kevin Smith films!). In fact Dan played so well, he managed to defeat the Slovak in straight sets, with an astounding display of confident play, winning the tie in 6-3, 7-5, 7-5. Quite remarkable stuff for someone whom prior to this had never won a Davis cup match. Next up though was James Ward, the British No.2, who came up against the talented Slovak No.2 Martin Klizance, which proved to be a much tougher test for Wardy, and unfortunately it was one he didn't come through, but put up a good fight before losing in 4 sets: 2-6, 6-4, 4-6, 6-7. This saw the first day with both teams tied at 1-1.
On the second day, it was the double as Flemo and Hutchins, took on the Slovak's doubles team, Filip Polasek and Mikel Martinek, in another tight match, which saw the Brits win in 4 sets in 6-3, 7-6, 0-6, 6-3. This was a crucial rubber for Great Britain and thankfully it was the one we knew we could get, as Ross Hutchings and Colin Fleming are such great doubles players, ranked in the top 30, they really know how to take on the best players and give them a match.
Which leads into Sunday, which I was at today (well yesterday), which saw the Number 1 and Number 2 country players play each other respectively. Starting with James Ward, who took on Lucas Lacko, which started off as very tightly contested match in the first set, which Lacko went on to win in the tiebreak, however after that, Wardy completely lost control of the match and failed to claw his way back in, which saw Lucas win the rubber in 7-6, 6-1, 6-3. This was a worrying sign for Great Britain at this point, as I honestly thought they wouldn't have a way back in after losing this. However help was at hand yet again, as Dan Evans, came back on court and played what easily had to be the best match of his career so far, drubbing his opponent Martin Klizan in the first two sets. But in the 3rd set, Klizan started to fight back and play better, after venting some frustration by smashing his racquet, , this soon let him pick up his game, and he took the 3rd and 4th sets to level the match. In the decider though, Dan got the crucial break and held onto it, as the young Slovak failed to hold onto his own serve at 5-3, he double faulted to hand the match to the young Brummie and the tie to Great Britain, winning in a thrilling 5 set match win: 6-1, 6-1, 4-6, 3-6, 6-3.
This was definitely the highlight of the tournament, and it really did announce Dan Evans arrival as a player, and the fact that he beat two players who were ranked 150 and 200 place above him was quite remarkable. I myself really didn't expect much of this tie, without Andy Murray, it seemed impossible that they would come through it, but thanks to Dan, they did. And in a way it was good that Andy didn't play, as it made for a much more tightly contested and entertaining tie than if he did play, it would have been all a bit more straight forward. Regardless of how they won, Great Britain pulled it off, and it was a terrific win, and for myself I really enjoyed being part of the crowd cheering on the GB team, and it was great to be involved in such a good atmosphere. However the tie did leave me a bit concerned about James Ward, as he lost both his rubber matches, which showed he had a lack of belief in his game, this may also affect the Davis cup captain Leon Smith's decision to use him in future rubber matches so much. I hope James does play because he is a really good player, but unfortunately he has been a bit inconsistent, and when he drops a set, his head tends to go down. But things do change, and who is to say Dan will play like he did the next time, but here's hoping he does keep up the good work, one thing is for sure, he deserves nothing but credit for what he has achieved this weekend.
So that's Great Britain through to the next stage, next up they will play Belgium, once again it will be staged at the Braehead arena, but of course the opponents don't get any easier, as GB will face Xavier Malisse and Oliver Ruchus in the singles rubbers, both very talented players. Hopefully by then Andy will play in the tie, at least I hope he does, which leads me to a gripe about the scheduling of the tennis calendar. For me the calendar has the Davis cup placed too closely between the grand slams, as I feel just a week after the end of one slam is not enough time for the top players to recover and prepare. And while we don't know for sure if Andy really was injured or if he just wasn't interested in playing in Davis cup this time round, I think it is crucial the players are given more recovery time before playing in Davis cup. Djokovic rightly said the same thing before the US Open final, that he really wasn't happy about the scheduling and he felt having to play the US Open final, and then Davis cup the following weekend, was just too much all at once, and he is right. But I wonder if it also boils down to the sponsors, and contracts with Sports TV channels, that its to fit them, rather than the players. But in the end it really should be about the players, as they are the ones who are going out there!!
Anywaysss that's enough for now, so a big big well done to the GB team once more, and its great to see they came through what was a very tough, exciting and highly entertaining tie. Onwards and hopefully upwards they go.
More to follow and on non-tennisy things soon. Bye the now.
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