Russia leads Sweden, 2-0
Safin beat Johansson in a rematch of the Oz final. Safin won 6-4, 6-4, 6-4. Kafelnikov beat Enqvist 7-6 (8-6), 6-3, 6-1. Tomorrow, Kafelnikov and Safin are slated to face Sweden's dubs team of Johansson and Jonas Bjorkman.

France leads the Czech Republic, 1-0
Grosjean won a five-set match over Ulirach. Wonder if this match was any good (Ulirach won the third set 6-0, and Grosjean won the decisive fifth set 6-1...). Escude and Novak are playing now. That should be a very good match...

Yet to play:

US vs. Spain, with Andy Roddick opening the tie against a very formidable Tommy Robredo. Sampras will then face Alex Corretja.

Argentina vs. Croatia, with Gaston Gaudio vs. Ivan Ljubicic for starters and Juan Ignacio Chela vs. Ivo Karlovic to follow. (I have no clue who the heck Karlovic is! Goran is scheduled to play the dubs, but not singles. What gives?!)

Goran's trying to save his shoulder for Wimbledon.

Let's not forget the zonal matches, also going on this weekend! Japan & Thailand are even at 1 apiece after the first day, as are India & New Zealand. Belgium is up 1-0 on Greece; Romania is up 1-0 over Austria. More interesting are the later matchups: Finland at Italy, Ecuador at Venezuela, and Chile at Canada.

Favorites are Thailand (thanks to Paradorn Srichiblahblahblah), India (thanks to the Indian Express in doubles), Belgium, Romania, Italy (Sanguinetti's been on fire this year), Ecuador (Lapentti), and Chile.

Then there's possibly the best match of the weekend: Belarus (with Volkov and Mirnyi) at Zimbabwe (with the Blacks and Ullyett). Normally I'd take the Zimbabweans in doubles, but Mirnyi is a great doubles player. All the Blacks need is one win apiece, which at home at altitude is certainly possible. Add to that the craziness going on in that country with the election and the farm takeovers and everything and MAN! That would be an interesting match to cover.

Go USA!!!!!!!

Was surfing the Davis Cup website and came across their cool profile pages. Check out the USA vs. Spain:
http://www.daviscup.org/dc1/Teams100002883.shtm

Argentina's team isn't bad, either...
http://www.daviscup.org/dc1/Teams100002885.shtm

Unbelievable. Sampras lost to Corretja in five on grass! What the...? Highly unexpected and no small dent in Sampras's already faltering confidence level. Luckily, Roddick played like a real champion against Robredo, regularly hitting 130 mph serves and getting to the net when he could. Robredo was very strong though for being so inexperienced on grass, in fact some of the points looked more like clay court points with these two slamming away from the baseline. As well as Roddick served, Robredo returned beautifully at times even against the big bombs...Well, doubles is no certainty with Blake and Martin not being the most experienced duo together, but they've got heart and they've got Martin's veteran qualities to get them through. If they can win doubles, then all we need is Andy to come through in his other singles match and the deed is done. Sampras won't have an easy time against Robredo in reverse singles, but he'll be looking to salvage this Davis Cup Round..desperately so...

There is just no way to "spin" this loss for Sampras. I know that Alex Corretja can still be a very good player -- it would be reasonable to give him the edge over Sampras on clay, and such a prediction is no blow to the Sampras ego. But even if Corretja played an awesome match, and even if the grass court was a hard surface and fairly high-bouncing (like the old Kooyong courts, where Mats Wilander once beat John McEnroe), Sampras really should not have lost this one (after being up 2 sets to love, no less). After getting drummed by Hewitt like he was some qualifier the last couple of times they played, after not winning a tournament in the last ~25 attempts, after not winning a Slam in almost 2 years, Sampras's confidence had to be flagging even before this loss. It'll be awfully tough for my boy to bounce back from this one. Maybe he can watch tapes of his 2001 U.S. Open matches against Agassi, Rafter, and Safin to buoy his competitive spirits. I don't know if that'll be enough though.

Strange stuff happens in Davis Cup. What if the inexperienced (in doubles play together) duo of Martin and Blake lose tomorrow? What if Corretja continues his heroics against Roddick, or Robredo draws inspiration from Corretja's victory and plays out of his mind against the now vulnerable Sampras? I still expect the U.S. to win this one, but if Spain pulled an upset ... well, stranger things have happened.

Strange things indeed happen in Davis Cup. Chile is losing 2-0 to CANADA! Perhaps Rios' injury is what accounts for that, but Gonzalez's loss is a little less explainable (he's the one who beat Pete at Key Biscayne).

Corretja is a fiery competitor. He's not a clay-court ONLY player - he's won plenty on hard courts. Sampras may have been overconfident - hell, I think the whole team was overconfident. The depth of men's tennis is no joke ... it's definitely become an "any given sunday situation." I think Blake & Martin have that something special, however, and I see them taking today's match. And I just don't see Roddick losing tomorrow - unless he gets hurt, he's just too much in his element in a home Davis Cup match, you know?

ESPN.com is reporting that Corretja may not be able to play in the reverse singles match. it seems he injured his hand in the fifth set against Sampras yesterday. Corretja beating Sampras has to be one of the biggest upsets in Davis Cup history given it's being played on grass in the US.

In defense of Corretja - who, btw, is one of the hottest tennis players around - he's played some excellent matches on surfaces other than clay. Let's not forget Corretja was the player who came within a few points of beating Sampras in the US Open about five or six years ago in the infamous let's-watch-Pete-barf-on-court-so-he'll-have-an-excuse-if-he-loses match. That said, it may be time for Pete to make his exit from the tennis scene before he starts losing to guys with triple digit rankings.

I wouldn't count Sampras out just yet. I think he still has the talent to compete with just about anyone, but the thing I don't really know is does he have the drive and the hunger to keep it up? Its so hard to know with him.
I agree with the comments about Corretja. He is one hot looking Spainard. Spain does produce some hot latin looking guys don't they?

Yes, Corretja is still a very good player, no denying. But take a look at his record on grass: 3-5 lifetime, and his last match was back in 1998, when he lost in the first round of both Halle and Wimbledon! True, Corretja's had some good hard court results (beating Agassi in the 1998 Indianapolis final really sticks out in my mind), but there's a world of difference between hard courts and grass because of the bounce (or lack of it) on grass. On the other side of the net, Sampras is a SEVEN-time Wimbledon champion. Sampras should have blown past Corretja in straights. This loss has to be devastating for Sampras.

PS: I've long thought Corretja was the most beautiful man on the tour -- those green eyes, the black hair, olive skin, the clean-cut good looks ... oh, and the most massively muscular, furry legs I've ever seen. Alas, I think he's married to some supermodel (surprise, surprise).

Did anyone else see Andy Clinch the victory this afternoon? He was so sky high. I loved watching his take a huge USA flag and run around the field with it, waving it wildly, even putting it on his face. He was jacked as was Captain McEnroe. Well done USA squad. Andy could not have been more gracious in the post match interview either. I think Cliff Drysdale was trying to compare him to Agassi and Andy replied, " I think I have a ways to go before I get to his level." What a gracious intelligent talented young man he is, and he loved playing for his country too. Way to go Andy!!

Did anyone else see Andy clinch the USA victory this afternoon? He was so sky high. I loved watching his take a huge USA flag and run around the field with it, waving it wildly, even putting it on his face. He was jacked as was Captain McEnroe. Well done USA squad. Andy could not have been more gracious in the post match interview either. I think Cliff Drysdale was trying to compare him to Agassi and Andy replied, " I think I have a ways to go before I get to his level." What a gracious intelligent talented young man he is, and he loved playing for his country too. Way to go Andy!!

"Mr. Roddick is ready to greet wellwishers from the Outsports community".......

And also .....

Agitated Andy

Peek-a-Boo Andy

Huggable Andy

[ April 07, 2002: Message edited by: Wurm ]

I thought I heard talk about it, but will there ever be a tennis network like there is for golf? If there was an argument against it before, ESPN's "coverage" of the Davis Cup would be a strong point for one. They only showed the first match and not show the Sampras/Corretja match, whish was pretty awesome. They finally showed THAT match, only when the doubles the next day was postponed for rain. Then never came back to show the rest of the match, which they showed after Roddick easily won today. And,as shceduled on Sunday, ESPN would have only showed the deciding match and not both!!
If there was a tennis channel,probably both matches would have been shown. But it makes more sense to me that there would be one instead of a golf channel. Pro tennis tournament matches are played all week. In golf, it's only 4 days. Maybe I'm asking for too much, but they wonder why tennis ratings are down. It's because they don't show enough of it.
And, yes, Corretja is very hot!!!!..

As I recall there has been mention of a tennis network I thought coming out sometime this year. I wish they would hurry.

Great photos (as always), Wurm!

This was really a coming-out performance (of sorts) for Andy Roddick. Yeh, he's already a star to us, but I was pleasantly surprised when two (at least!) local TV news programs showed highlights of his match on the 10 o'clock news last night...

Andy played very well though he's certainly high-strung. Watching him, you get the feeling that he's going to explode like a teenager any minute..of course, he is still a teenager. He played well on grass, serving ferociously and incorporating more backhand slices...very smart. Andy is now a Davis Cup star!

Andy is really a very gifted athelete, sin't he? I was looking at him yesterday and really noticing his face. Does anybody else see him as just a little androgynous? Not a bad thing mind you, but I think he is just a little bit.

Flag Boy

Also.....

Stretch

Shout

Wave

Return

[ April 08, 2002: Message edited by: Wurm ]

Even though I've never really liked Roddick, but its nice to see an athelete that patriotic, it shows you a good feeling of tremendous happiness in your country. And not bad looking either Other than that it's "Andy Roddick...Oh, turn it to the Discovery Channel or something else, please" I'm sure one of these days I will enjoy watching his matches, but for the time being...sorry!

Does Roddick have great legs or what? I've always thought tennis made for nice gams, but this guy's are the best!

most tennis players do have nice legs, and thighs. I remember my glory days when I was much younger and without the conditions I am dealing with at present, I used to receive alot of compliements about my legs and thighs. I miss that.