Wow, Israel taking out Russia? Who would have thought? I thought their win over Sweden was a flash in the pan, glad to be proven wrong on that one.

Blake continues to disappoint in Davis Cup. Lost both his matches. (Blake's another one showing a problem with the rankings....only made 3 QFs in all his 30 slams appearences, and of his 10 titles, 9 were mere "250 series" titles, and the other back in 2002 was a "tour 500 series" title...yet he got to #4 in the world)

Can't fault Fish too much, he found out relatively late he'd be playing when Roddick pulled out. Certainly can't fault the Bryans, either, they won quite easily.

American Davis Cup and Fed Cup (and all tennis, for that matter) will be hurting when Roddick and the Williams sisters retire. Unless Oudin continues to surprise, or Querry or some other youngsters come out of nowhere, things look kind of bleak past this current (and getting closer to riding-off-into-the-sunset) generation.

Well 2 Americans in the final at Newport -Querry and a new guy named Rajeev RAM.
Did Roddick hint at retiring in the next few years? I worry about that arm. I would think he'd be soaking it in ice for weeks after that Wimbledon marathon.
I'd love to see the sisters continue, but I have my doubts. Their hearts just don't seem to be in it. Serena might stick around a little longer.

Roddick probably needed some psychological/emotional recovery time after the Wimbledon final.

Fish and Blake owe him the Davis Cup work, too.

Andy repeatedly went to bat for Blake as a Davis Cup member back when Blake's spot on the team was not a secure thing.

I really like Marin Cilic, who beat Blake today. One of the most mature of the young players, and he has a ton of potential.

The Czech team of Berdych-Stepanek is looking tough. The Croatia-Czech Republic semifinal seems like it will be more dramatic than the Spain-Israel one.

You mean the Williams sisters who've played more tournaments this year and last year than they did other years in their careers, and have played doubles at almost all the slams as well, or are we talking about someone else? Venus and Serena haven't been this interested in and focused on tennis since the late 90's/early '00's. I don't know where this "their hearts just don't seem to be in it" is even remotely coming from.

Viva La Armada! Nadal crushes Berdych. But the match of the day was the 4-hour-plus epic of Ferrer vs Stepanek. Ferrer comes back down 2 sets to Love to beat Radek, just like he did once before in Australia in 2007. I hope this means David will find that same 2007 form which got him to the Top 5.

It was also so cool to see Rafa cheering on Ferru....I've never seen him so stressed out, he was so into it. Very fun. And so cool to see JCF and Robredo supporting the team even though they didnt make the official roster. I just love the camraderie of the Armada....I like to think of this crop as Armada 2.0 though. It just makes it so much sweeter that Berdych and Stepanek are just so very easy to root against....for me anyway.

Watching the Nadal-Berdych match you got the feeling as it unfolded that the First Set was really the whole match. I had to leave after Nadal won the set, but we sat here thinking if he did eke it out he'd just cut loose and roll after that, knowing Berdych would never have it in his legs to take 3 Sets after already being on court for an hour. But even thinking that - 13 straight games is just ridiculous. Nice way to get ATP Match Win number 400, which in itself is a remarkable feat. That Nadal has racked up 400 wins on the tour before the age of 24 is truly exceptional.

And what an amazing effort by Ferrer. That he held his nerve enough to claw his way back in it was stunning. And poor Stepanek had to have started to feel it in his 29 year old legs after losing the third set. Great stuff from both of them out there today.

I've always liked David Ferrer. I admire his tenacity and perserverance. Plus, you just gotta root for a guy who used to describe himself as "the worst player in the top hundred." Uh yeah, no warning signs of an inflated ego with that guy. Watching the last few games of the fifth, you could see the old David Ferrer was back. He chased absolutely everything down, he was confident in his own shots, and he finally wore Stepanek into the ground (or clay). While it's pretty doubtful David can get back into the Top 5 (it's awfully crowded nowadays), I do think he can go up from #18 to somewhere 10 to 15, hopefully closer to 10.

It was a bit of a longshot, but the Czechs actually had a chance in this tie. If Stepanek had beaten Ferrer, and if the Czech doubles team won their point (Verdasco/Lopez are a good team, but doubles is so unpredictable), it's not outside the realm of possibility that Berdych beat Ferrer. That's all if's and but's now, because the sun has a better chance of rising in the West than Stepanek has of beating Rafa.

By the way, anybody check out Hajek, Dlouhy's doubles partner? His pic on the Davis Cup website is wicked cute.

Hehehe, I thought the same thing when I saw Hajek this week. But only on the site. I didnt notice him when they cut away to the Czech bench. And of course I agree with you on Ferrer too.