A highly anticipated tie between USA and Serbia coming up this weekend, but according to daviscup.com, Andy Roddick is not playing! The four US players listed are Isner, Querrey, and the Bryans. What's going on with Davis Cup stalwart Andy?? Even though red clay is the surface, a US victory was a decent bet, with the strategy of the Bryans winning the dubs (they can win on any surface) and Roddick and Querrey (who's actually pretty good on the dirt) beating Tipsarevic for the other two points. But with Isner replacing Roddick, US chances take a nosedive. Zimonjic and Troicki have actually played pretty well together, so a Bryans' win is by no means assured. Despite Novak's very shaky form in Dubai, he's still the third best player in the world on the red stuff, so the chances of Isner or Querrey pulling off an upset are pretty remote. Querrey is certainly capable of beating Tipsy, but Isner against Tipsy? Uh ... yikes ... not so much.

okaaaay, let's not all jump in at once! I guess this is a sign of the moribund fate of Davis Cup in the U.S. It's still popular in other countries, but Stateside? uh ...

Andy elected not to play Davis Cup because he didn't feel he could commit to the whole year due to his recent injuries (didn't he have a wrist problem in addition to the strained MCL?). With #20 Isner, #22 Querrey, and #1 dubs team the Bryans, the U.S. had a pretty decent team who would have stood a decent chance on another surface, especially with Novak struggling as much as he has. But it was clay and therefore too steep a hill for the Americans. Troicki played singles instead of Tipsy. Maybe Tipsy's flat groundies aren't ideal for clay. Troicki did himself proud by winning the first singles over Isner, who's ranked 15 spots above him. Novak beat Querrey, as expected, although Querrey did take a set. I didn't watch the dubs, but apparently Isner filled in for a food-poisoned Mike Bryan (or maybe just poisoned? ask Tommy Haas), and he and Bob Bryan beat Zimonjic and Tipsarevic. Not wanting to leave his country's fate to his #35 ranked compatriot Troicki, Novak felt enormous pressure to win the tie with his singles rubber. On paper, it should have been a rout, but Isner played great whereas Novak not so much. But one seriously mangled racket, a few balls into the stands, a few code violations, and five sets later, Novak did manage to secure victory. All in all, it was some pretty good Davis Cup drama.

Not that anyone cares, mind you.

Nothing personal, Rudy. Just part of that February-into-March, post-AO lull I guess. I guess that'll change as the IW-Miami double gears up soon.

You're right that I wasn't too interested in the Serbia-US tie, though. I think the real story of the weekend were two countries, each of whom have reached two Davis Cup finals in the past few years, managing to scrape their way into the quarters despite missing their top two players. I mean Spain and Argentina. It turned out to be pretty easy for Spain, but after splitting their matches the first day, and doing without their stalwart doubles team of Lopez and Verdasco against doubles gold medalist Wawrinka, things looked like they might get a bit dicey. It was a bit more dramatic for Argentina. Nalbandian played the unlikely superhero, swooping down without playing a complete tournament in something like 10 months to win the doubles and the clinching fifth rubber. Didn't see that coming, and now they should have a fighting chance against Russia once Delpo and Monaco are back in action. Ditto Spain with Rafa and Verdasco against France. Even without advancing further, they fought off the peril of having to play to avoid relegation in the fall.

Good for Djoko fighting off the inspired Isner, though I was hoping John would win it, since Querrey is no slouch on clay and might have completed the shock upset. Djoko sure was showing some of that scary intensity that his countrymen are known for - usually he's pretty happy-go-lucky by comparison to the likes of Tipsy et al. I guess it was playing on home soil that did it. The tie against Croatia has a lot of potential for fireworks, but I hope both sides and the Croatian home crowd use the opportunity to make it a showcase event for burying the hatchet with newfound Balkan solidarity instead.