Sometimes, it all seems to be too much. Too much tennis, that is. Too many important events for the players to handle and the fans to process. You might, in a certain mood, say that about this weekend. The men come out of the Arabian desert straight into Davis Cup straight into Indian Wells straight into Key Biscayne and before you know it it’s the clay season and the year really has begun.
This time, though, maybe because it’s early and Davis Cup feels new and wide open again, I’m happy for the overkill, happy to have the sport morph into a completely different format and see the players banded together for a brief time before they scatter again; happy to see Rafael Nadal make the schlep to gray Belgium and get crank-called but still say he's pumped up and nervous to play a guy ranked outside the Top 100. For a few days, the Armani model and Laureus winner is just one of the guys.
I’m also happy to see that another superstar of the sport, Novak Djokovic, doesn’t feel the need to be one of the boys this time around. Perhaps the most preposterous sight in tennis is that of the Davis Cup champions having to go out and begin their title defense two months after they got done drowning each other in champagne. Given how mad the Serbs went after their 2010 victory, it seems even more absurd this time around—has their hair even grown all the way back after their head-shaving celebration in Belgrade? Fortunately, even without Djokovic, they should be OK against India—a depleted India missing both Paes and Bhupathi—in round one.
Here’s a quick look at that tie, as well as the other three in top half of the 2011 Davis Cup draw. Pete Bodo handles the other half here.
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India vs. Serbia
Novi Sad, Serbia; indoor hard courts
The man who closed last year’s Davis Cup season will open it for the Serbs. Victor Troicki hasn’t exactly followed up his DC glory in 2011, but he should get a win over Rohan Bopanna, a doubles specialist currently ranked No. 629. The second rubber, Janko Tipsarevic, No. 45, vs. Somdev Devvarman, No. 93, should be much better, and one that the Indians could steal if Tipsarevic succumbs to anything like the nerves he succumbed to in the final last year. But I’m thinking he won’t let that happen again.
Either way, it’s a must win for the visitors. As is the doubles the next day; there is hope in the matchup of Devvarman and Bopanna vs. Zimonjic and Illija Bozoljac. Still, it’s uphill all the way for the Indians against the defending champs. Serbia 3-1
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Russia vs. Sweden
Boras, Sweden; indoor hard
No Safin, no Davydenko, no Youzhny: the glory years of Russian Davis Cup seem to be over. The B-team, none of whom are ranked above No. 76 at the moment, travels to Sweden to face a bomb squad led by world No. 4 Robin Soderling and the newly returned yet again Joachim Johansson—yeah him, the man known as Pim-Pim, he's back.
Things should start well for the Swedes. Soderling begins with Igor Andreev, a fine player whose ranking has slipped to No. 97. But there will be pressure on the Sod, because no one knows how Johansson is going to look in the second match, where he plays the hot-and-cold Teymuraz Gabashvili. A quick court should help, but at the moment Johansson is ranked No. 749 and has to be an underdog, even at home.
The doubles, naturally, will be crucial. And it will be hard to predict: veteran doubles guys Aspelin and Lindstedt vs. streaky hitters Tursunov and Kunitsyn. Whoever wins that should win the tie. Sweden 3-2
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Kazakhstan vs. Czech Republic
Ostrava, Czech Republic; indoor hard
Are they making Kazakhstan play all of their matches on the road now? The trip there seems to be a tough slog. So Tomas Berdych must be feeling lucky that he can stay in his home country the week before the ATP season begins in earnest at Indian Wells. The big man will clearly bat cleanup for the Czechs; at No. 7, he’s the only player on either team ranked in the Top 40.
But the tie isn’t exactly a sure thing for the home team. In fact, it begins with a match—Golubev, No. 43, vs. Hajek, No. 101—that the Kazahks should win. Must win. The second rubber pits Berdych against Kukushkin.
It’s strange to see Evgeny Korolev’s name pop up in the doubles, and to see that he’s fallen all the way to No. 231. I watched him lose a tight qualifying match in Australia to Frank Dancevic. Korolev was still bashing away OK, as far as I could tell; a little slip at this level and suddenly you’re lucky to be a doubles specialist for your Davis Cup team. Can he make a difference? He hits hard enough, but one of his opponents, Lukas Dlouhy, is a perennial Top 15 in dubs. Czech Republic 3-1
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Romania vs. Argentina
Buenos Aires; outdoor clay
It is remarkable, looking at the depth of the Argentine team and their prowess at home, that they’ve never gone all the way in the Cup. The best player from the country, Juan Martin del Potro, isn’t here, but another quality Juan, Monaco, will be. And David Nalbandian, of course, will be embarking on one more quixotic DC campaign—I really want to call him a “Davis Cup stalwart,” but feel like I might have gone to that well once too often.
Nalby should be OK to start. He opens the tie against Adrian Ungur, a name I don’t believe I have ever heard, and which is currently listed next to ranking number 183. Monaco vs. Victor Hanescu is the proverbial must-win for the Romanians; a must win, but a very tough win in the clay cauldron in Buenos Aires.
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If the Romanians can come out of day one tied, they’ve got a good shot in doubles, as it's listed now: Hanescu and secret weapon Horia Tecau, currently ranked No. 16 in doubles, are scheduled to face Juan Ignacio Chela and the fabulously named Eduardo Schwank. If that match does happen, the Romanians might even be favored. But not for long. Argentina 3-1.