Tennis Zone: 2011 Davis Cup Predictions

As some of us may know, the 2011 Davis Cup starts this Friday and there are some great match ups. For those who don't know much about the Davis Cup, it is an ITF run event that pits the top 16 countries in the world (male players only) against each other in a bracket tournament.  Each tie (eg.-USA v. CHILE) is a best of 5 rubbers (matches), with 4 singles and 1 doubles.  In the first rubbers, typically the first singles play each other and second singles play each other, while in the final two rubbers they reverse.  Each rubber is a best of 5 sets, with the 5th set not having a tie break.  Should victory be sealed before the last rubbers have been played (eg-someone goes up 3-0 in the first three rubbers) then the remaining matches will be best of 3 sets.

This week sees the first round action.  Defending champs (Serbia) and finalists (France) are the top two seeds, followed by Spain and the Czech Republic.  The rest of the seeds are as follows:

1. Serbia
2. France
3. Spain
4. Czech Republic
5. Argentina
6. United States
7. Russia
8. Croatia

The remaining unseeded countries include Germany, Sweden, Belgium, Austria, India, Romania, Chile, and Kazakhstan.

The US Team is looking strong and has a good shot at going far in this years tournament with the return of Andy Roddick, the #1 American  (#8 World) who withdrew last year, who joins John Isner (#32 World) and the top doubles team, the Bryan Brothers to face off against Chile this weekend.  Prospects look good for the American team, which currently holds the most Davis Cup titles at 32 (most recent in 2007), which last year fought to stay in the world group rankings.  They play in Santiago, Chile on clay courts, a surface not commonly associated with American tennis or the big serves of Roddick or Isner, however perhaps ranking will be enough to outweigh their opponents.  None of the Chilean players are ranked within the top 100 players, and their highest, Paul Capdeville, is currently ranked 171 in the world (due to the withdraw of Fernando Gonzales because of injury).  This is as straight forward an opening round the Americans could have hoped for, but still must stay on the ball to win.  The surface and home team advantage gives a strong advantage to the Chileans, and the Davis Cup has been known to see high ranking players fall to lower ranking players holding their nations hopes.  In the end, however, I think the US will be able to breeze through this round with a 5-0 victory in South America.  The rest of my predictions are as follows.

(1) Serbia 4-1 India    

  (7) Russia 2-3 Sweden

(4) Czech Republic 5-0 Kazakhstan         

(5) Argentina 4-1 Romania    

                       Chile 0-5 United States (6)

       Belgium 1-4 Spain (3)

        Germany 2-3 Croatia (8)

          Austria 1-4 France (2)