Congratulations James. I know that means a lot to him. I'm sure he and Robby battled it out for the spot but I can only imagine that since its on clay James must have a slightly better clay game than Ginepri. I don't think either of them particularly excel on it and lord knows Andy doesn't. Another factor may have been that James has better touch at net. I don't know. But, congrats to James and I'm sure Ginepri will be with them as the alternate.

Who is the other singles player? Is it Roddick?

With his rather inconsistent clay play and loss in the first round of the U.S. Open, I don't know if Roddick is going to be a good matchup against Rochus, especially on clay.

I think both Ginepri and Blake have games that are better suited to the clay, even if their results haven't been great.

I would have given both Robby and James a spot on the roster, then let Robby, James and Andy play out during the practice sessions to determine who is playing best on the surface.

maybe if Andy had not been selected it would motivate him? Or maybe he's too god in the sack and is keeping Patrick mcEnroe happy?

LOL...hilarious. I'm tellin you. I'm trying to figure out why Andy Roddick and Brad Gilbert split up. Something about Brad always made me think he was familia. The split between he and Roddick just didn't seem right. Andy was having good results and certainly didn't give Gilbert enough time to really take him to the next level. I mean Brad Gilbert is an A-list coach. His results this year have not been as good as they were under Gilbert so I'm curious to see if he'll keep Goldfine around. I'm tellin you....there's more to their "breakup" than just the tennis. There has to be.

Hmmm....something about his wife and 3 kids make me think he isn't.

Yeah I used to think the same thing about my best friend's dad who has been married to his wife for over 20 years and has 2 sons until he made a pass at me when I was in high school. Cuz we all know that being married with children certainly rules out someone for being familia

Brad Gilbert being queer!!!!!


...........who cares

so back to my comment (not that speculating on brad isn't fun)...don't you think that had Andy not been selected, it might have sent him a message. Not that his results are terrible.....i bet there are a lot og guys willing to be top 5.

I just think that Patrick made some poor choices. Roddick and Blake play a similar game- being dependent on the huge power forehand. I think it would have been better for the choice of Robby Ginepri in this case- his game is different in style and more of a grinding type.

I think making the Belgian players get used to different styles of play would have made it harder for them.

I personally would have gone with Blake, Ginepri and the Bryan twins....

(Thanks for bringing this back to sports chat.) Guess I would say it might have. But I don't know how Andy receives messages. He seems nice enough, seems to be growing up in terms of his demeanor on the court, seems to want it. Yet he doesn't really seem to have it upstairs. His game is powerful, but two-dimensional. And when challenged, he lacks the awareness of alternatives to push the other guy out of his comfort zone, not just to bulldoze him. Leaving him off...I could see him just getting an attitude rather than getting a message. Does seem like he needs someone to help open up the understanding, to get in his face and challenge him to learn and adapt, without giving up his strengths. For that, he'd have to be willing to take the criticism from his coach. He'd do well to emulate Martina N., who had a number of very different people around her during her career, different styles to push her at different points in her career. Of course, she listened to them and practiced what they said, trusting that the results would show over time.

[ September 15, 2005, 07:34 PM: Message edited by: Good Hands ]

Andy's game? 2 dimensional? Whats the other dimension? His game is as good as his serve. Giles Muller proved that even that can be beatable when the other player has a powerful serve as well. I mean there's no way Andy was NOT going to be selected since he is a top 5 player but I see the points some of you guys are making.

Ok...I'm laughing. Perhaps I was being generous, but I was thinking about the serve and then the forehand as two powerful shots in Andy's arsenal. But I won't hold the position that he has even a 2 dimensional game, since his results do seem to be so dependent on how effective his serve is.

Leaving Andy off the team would certainly send a message, but I don't think it would be the right decision. I think he has earned the position with his consistently good play over the past couple of years. Certainly James and Robby had a much better Open, but they haven't been as consistently good as Andy over the course of past few years. It would almost be a slap in the face for JMac to leave him off. He also does have the best clay results between them, and took Nadal to 5 sets last year in the DC. Of course that was before Nadal became a top player, but I still think that is a pretty good result.

Honestly ... as much as I'm not a fan of The Caveman's game, Roddick has every right to be on the Davis Cup team. Roddick has played in more "big occasions" on the court than all of the other options put together. I think that a large role in Davis Cup is how a player can handle the stress and while Roddick has had some struggles as of late, the team is stronger with Andy on the team than off of it. *shrug*

As for Blake over Ginepri ... I think that PMac is going to hope that the team can try to hit the Belgians off of the court. Is that the right strategy? *shrug* I dunno ... however, I think that Blake has more solid clay creds than Robby ... Wasn't James a quarterfinalist in Rome a few years back? *scratches head*

Nick

Ok well it appears I jumped the gun before when I announced that James had gotten the last official Davis Cup spot. Originally both he AND Ginepri were invited. The following article goes into more detail.

U.S. Davis Cup Lineup To Be Roddick, Blake
By Andre Christopher
09/22/2005

James Blake will be the U.S. Davis Cup team No. 2 when the draw is made Thursday for the Davis Cup World Group Playoff tie between the United States and Belgium. It’s not that Blake outperformed Robby Ginepri during the week of practice in Leuven. Quite simply, Blake made the trip.


In an unexpected — if not unusual — set of events, Ginepri took himself out of consideration for the No. 2 singles slot on the U.S. team in order to further prepare for the remainder of the season and recover from a breakthrough U.S. Open in which he reached his first Grand Slam tournament semifinal. During the Open, U.S. Captain Patrick McEnroe announced a squad of U.S. No. 1 Andy Roddick, Blake, Ginepri and Bryan twins Bob and Mike, the U.S. Open men’s doubles champions.

Blake and Ginepri earned their places on the squad with outstanding play during the summer, followed by remarkable performances at the U.S. Open. But in naming his squad for this Sept. 23-25 tie, which will determine whether the United States remains in the prestigious Davis Cup World Group or drops into zonal play, McEnroe said that he would not have Blake and Ginepri play a challenge match for the position. So with both players having played deep into the second week of the U.S. Open (Blake was a quarterfinalist), they questioned between themselves the merit of going from the summer-long North American hard courts to slow, indoor red clay for a week (which is what the Belgians have chosen for Davis Cup) and back to to hard courts — eventually, even, fast indoor carpet.

The players called McEnroe last weekend and asked who he would pick for the team if he had to make a decision right then. Based on their clay court records this year — Blake is 21-2, including exhibition tournaments and challengers; Ginepri is 4-5 including exhibition tournaments and qualifying — McEnroe said he would have to go with Blake. Ginepri said he would stay home, though remain willing to fly to Belgium in a pinch if injury demanded it.

“I understood,” McEnroe said at the end of practice in Leuven on Wednesday. “Look, they both had great summers. It would have been tough to come here, practice all week and then not play.”

So all that remains is to see whether Blake will open this weekend’s tie against Belgian No. 1 Olivier Rochus or if Roddick against Christophe Rochus will be the first match. The draw will be held at Leuven City Hall at 12:30 local time on Thursday.
__________________________________________________

So, Ginepri took himself out it appears to prepare for the rest of the season. But, looking at the clay court records of both guys I think PMac should have and would have picked James even if Ginepri didn't take himself out of contention. I hope Ginepri is there though to support his fellow Americans. Go James, Andy, and Bryan Bros....represent us well.

[ September 22, 2005, 01:07 PM: Message edited by: ltskinmdterp ]

Ouch! So much for picking Blake, he just lost to O. Rochus in straight sets. frown

I love Oli, so it's hard to be too upset about that result. I actually think his chances against Roddick on clay aren't all that bad either. It will be interesting to see how the weekend pans out.

The U.S. is lucky Belgium is playing Christophe Rochus, rather than Xavier Malisse. This way the U.S. actually has a chance.

Blake's clay court credentials are a lot less impressive than they sound. Most of those wins on clay were on the American challenger circuit. Only 2 of his wins on clay this year were against players in the top 100--over Anthony Dupuis and Ivo Minar in Houston. Christophe, let alone Olivier, will be a tough match for him.

Honesty, I would have picked Vince Spadea as my number 1 man on clay for the U.S., and held my nose with Roddick as #2.

I thought Blake might have performed a little better against Olivier, maybe getting a set but I expected the results so far. I figured Olivier would beat James and Andy would beat Christophe. Hopefully James will beat Christophe but I have a feeling Olivier might beat Andy. I mean its clay and we all know the lack of US success on it right now. Patrick wasn't gonna pick Spadea simply based on the way he's been playing recently. Ginepri would've had the same result against Olivier so I think it may come down to the doubles.

Getting ready for the Roddick/Rochus match here. Tennis first this morning, then football at 1:00pm. How special is that?? C'mon Andy!

THis was an incredible nail biter. I give full credit to Andy, who came through in the 5th set to put it away. Rochus just never gave up though. The last couple of sets were wild, with both players breaking each other left and right. The last set in the 5th game as I recall, was marred by a controversy though, when I guess, a linesperson made a late call in a crucial game. This brought on a huge arguement with the Belgium Coach and Rochus,with the umpire, while Andy got about 5 minutes of valubale rest. The ruling went in favor of USA which gave Andy a 5-3 lead in the 5th set, and of course Andy went on to win. Even Brad Gilbert and Cliff Drysdale said they couldn't believe what they saw happen and the ruling and all. It was really weird.

[ September 26, 2005, 06:04 AM: Message edited by: puckman1 ]

THAT.
CALL.
WAS.
TERRIBLE!!!!!!

I felt horrible for Oli. And for Andy, in a way, because they were both running on fumes and playing their hearts out. I guarantee you that Roddick - along with everyone else in the stadium other than the officials - knew that Rochus's overhead was not out. I'm not suggesting Andy should have said anything. All he wanted to do was sit down, which is understandable; I'm just saying.

What made absolutely no sense was (1) the fact that the lineswoman who called it out went up to the chair as Rochus was preparing to serve at deuce again and how (2) no one checked the mark. It was rotten officiating. The only other time I've seen a call that bad is the US Open match two years ago between Serena and JennyCap. And at least that was early in the decisive set. Once they announced "game USA," that gave Roddick the only break of the set and a 4-2 lead.

It was a highly disappointing, seriously tainted way to end the match.