American teenager Ryan Harrison says he felt pressure to win his dead-rubber match against Michael Lammer in Switzerland so he could impress upon captain Jim Courier that he is worth keeping on the Davis Cup squad. Courier’s team also included Mardy Fish, John Isner and Mike Bryan. The U.S. plays France away in the quarterfinals in April and at that point, Courier might ask Mike’s twin brother Bob to rejoin the team. Bob skipped the tie because his wife just gave birth.
"Everyone is saying it’s a dead rubber, but from my standpoint you want your captain to trust you in a live, pressure-filled situation, you want to be able to compete and win in a dead rubber so he can see I can handle a dead rubber and an away match on clay," Harrison told TENNIS.com. “If I lose that match there could be some sort of doubt, and you don’t want to develop doubt in yourself for Davis Cup. It was very important to me."—Matt Cronin