D.C. In A Cold Climate

By TW Contributing Editor Andrew

(Photos by Richard Dibb)

As I take my seat at the Calgary Stampede Corral before the first singles match in the Canada-Mexico Americas Group tie, I notice the green-and-white thundersticks to left and right.  This could get loud very fast, I think.

They tell me it takes eighteen months to adapt to a new culture, and my involuntary reaction to the thundersticks is a sign that after four months in Canada I'm still a tenderfoot.  Loud?  Over the next 24 hours of total domination by a depleted Canadian team, the Corral will get about as loud as Celine Dion doing a soundcheck.  The intent is there, but try as they might, Canadians are temperamentally not a wild and crazy bunch.

The Corral might rock, if it were packed to the rafters, which it doesn't seem to be.  The arena, a converted ice hockey stadium, holds about 5000.  I estimate that there are about 700 fans, a tenth of whom are cheering on Mexico.  The other nine tenths have come to support a group of players defending a proud record of never losing in Calgary, and the news going in isn't good for the home team: Frank Dancevic, the Canadian no 1 (ranked 84) is out with a back injury.  Will Citadel Calgary's hopes go with him?

Freddy Niemeyer stands in at no 1 singles for Dancevic, facing Mexico's no 2, one Santiago Gonzalez.  Mr Gonzalez, at 6' 3", bears a faint resemblance to one of the Rojo brothers in "A Fistful Of Dollars."  He is, it turns out, an exponent of the long lost art of serve-and-volley, and shows some soft hands at the net.  Sadly for the Mexican cause, he's broken early in each of the first three sets.

He has two chances to get back into the match: in the second set, Niemeyer serves for a 2-0 lead at at 5-4.  With the score at 30-30 the so-far imperturbable Niemeyer double faults, and on break point his second serve hits the tape and just crawls over.  Gonzalez crushes the next serve cross court, and looks aghast as the line judge calls the ball an inch wide (Niemeyer also signals "out" with his finger, the only time in the match he makes any gesture.)  Niemeyer then serves out the set, and cruises to a 6-5 lead in the third set.  But Gonzalez finally converts a BP (his fourteenth, and we're in a tie break.  You could cut the tension with a rubber knife: Niemeyer wins seven of eight points, the first match is in, and the crowd makes the sound of a well tuned Volkswagen starting up.

The MC asks Niemeyer if he was feeding off the energy from the crowd.  I smile appreciatively, then realize he wasn't joking.  Niemeyer assents, and if it worked for him, who am I to say otherwise?

Next up is the Mexican no 1, Bruno Echegaray, taking on Peter Polansky from Ontario, a 19 year old prospect with good foot speed.  Echegary has a beautiful topspin one handed backhand, and he and Polansky play many crisp baseline rallies.  But the Mexican gets himself into trouble frequently on his own serve, not least by foot faulting three times on his second serve.  On the third occasion, there's a mild protest by the player and Mexican captain to the chair umpire.  I suppose the umpire warns them that he won't be responsible for the crowd behavior if the away team makes a big deal of things.  Echegary resumes play, but when his opponent breaks at 5-5 in the second set with a superb 2H BH pass, the jig is up.  Confidence almost visibly drains from the Mexican no 1, who goes down 6-3, 7-5, 6-2.

A few thundersticks greet the victory.  The crowd may be saving its energy to brave the February snow.  It's bitter cold outside the arena, minus 21 centigrade.  Or Calgary may be holding something back for Daniel Nestor, Canada's one true world class tennis player (born in Belgrade, would you believe).  Perhaps the knowledgeable crowd knows that it will need to give its all to help its hero overcome a desperate Mexican fightback.

Comes Saturday, and Calgary is still at about -20C.  If anything, the crowd looks slightly sparser than before.  It's possible that the prospect of a Calgary Flames game at the next door Saddledome has held down attendence a touch.  Still, the Canadian team of Niemeyer and Nestor is greeted with a warm cheer, and Captain Ortiz of Mexico reveals his final roll of the dice - Gonzalez and Echegaray will step back into the, um, lions' arena.

Nestor and Niemeyer have a 9-0 record in Davis Cup, so the Mexican pair have a job on their hands.  I'd like to record that they left nothing on the court.  But that would be wrong.  The Mexicans don't exactly hand the victory to the Canadians on a silver plate, but they never once give the impression that they think they can win.  At 0-30 in their first service game, a quick conference between N and N is followed with Nestor setting up in the I formation.  This bamboozles the Central Americans as thoroughly as it used to bamboozle opponents in my Houston area 4.0 doubles, and if I recall correctly, the Mexicans don't hit another return in during the game.

The Canadians proceed to hold serve comfortably until, a set and a break up, Nestor turns a 15-0 lead into a 15-40 deficit with three successive double faults.  Dang, I could do that too, I think, but Nestor then serves his way out of trouble.  Only the predilection of Niemeyer for hitting precisely the same spot on the net on deuce court returns keeps the Mexican pair in the match.  Eventually, one break in each set is decisive, and the match and rubber are wrapped up 6-4 6-4 6-4.

I commiserate with some Mexican fans after the match.  Are they distraught?  No.  It seems that the frosty Canadian air cools even the Latin temperament.  What do they think of their team's performance?  To a man and woman, "not good enough" they say.  Ah well.  There's always the Flames tonight.

(Note: all photos in this report were taken by Richard Dibb, an extremely tall and talented colleague of mine.  I look forward to an occasion when he and Rosangel can swap tennis picture wisdom)