France lead Argentina 3-0

If there is one thing to take from this week thus far, it’s that in Davis Cup this year, France are not playing around. In July they sent a statement out to the other teams in whitewashing defending champs Spain 5-0, and this week they’re taking it to another level. Who needs former top 6 players Tsonga and Simon? It has been Monfils and Llodra who have carried the team through to the finals with a 3-0 win over Argentina, clinched today with a 6-3 7-5 6-4 win for Llodra/Clement over Schwank/Zeballos. Yesterday Llodra dispatched of Pico Monaco 7-5 4-6 7-5 6-3 in a surprisingly tight match. Pico competed well and and surprised me considering he has only recently come back from injury, but Michael just had too much for Pico on such a fast court. Gael, not to be outdone, then played some magnificent tennis to crush the Davis Cup Beast David Nalbandian, in 4 sets. He defence was typically magnificent and every single time he had a chance to flip the switch and attack on his forehand, he took it with both hands. A really pleasing win.

The question is whether or not he will ever be able to play in this mindset day in, day out. I actually would love to see him work with Forget who seems to be very strict and wouldn’t stand for any of Gael’s antics. They would probably fall out quite a bit, but I think that Forget provides the discipline that Gael desperately needs in a coach if he is ever to stop fooling about on court and finally make the most of his immense athletic talents and tennis ability.

Czech Republic lead Serbia 2-1

Over in Serbia, things are far from over with the Czech Republic taking a 2-1 lead going into the final day. On Friday, Viktor Troicki filled in for a sick Djokovic to play Stepanek, while Tipsarevic faced off against Tomas Berdych. Surprisingly, it was Viktor who lost and Janko who won. The doubles went the way of the Czech Republic today in 4 sets. Quite shockingly, it was Zimonjic who was the worst player on-court, and a slew of missed returns and groundstrokes from him in the second set seemed to frustrate and eventually break Novak’s spirit. On the other side of the court, Beauty and the Beast played some typically flawless doubles en-route to their 4 set victory.

The deciding day of tennis will see Nole up against Tomas and Janko playing Radek in the final rubber. It really is anyone’s competition to win. Tomas did extremely well in the doubles today, but over in the singles he has been pretty average since Wimbledon. This is obviously completely contrasted with Novak who was playing in the US Open final only five or so days ago. If Tomas can prolong the match long enough for Novak’s fatigue to set in then he has a chance, but I really think that Novak should win this one to take this tie into a deciding rubber.

Before this week I would’ve said Janko would win the deciding rubber hands down, but Mr Vaidisova has clearly come alive this week. I’ll still give the edge to Janko because he has been playing at such a high level in his last two events, but this match could really go any way and there could be a lot of drama. Hopefully this tie will go down to the wire.

Also have to give a shout out to the Lithuanian Davis Cup team, the surprise package of this year. I’ve been following both Ricardas Berankis and Laurynas Grigelis for some time now and it has been really good to see them all growing and maturing with every tie. They came into the Davis Cup this year aged 19 (Ricardas Berankis), 18 (Laurynas Grigelis), 17 (Dovydas Sakinis) and 15 (Lukas Mugevicius), and believe me, they all look about 3 years younger than their actual ages (6 for Ricardas). However, they have managed to conquer GBR and Ireland back to back with Rikkie unbeaten all year and Laurie coming through to win in the important matches. Today Berankis/Grigelis fought back from 0-2 down in sets to comfortably defeat the Slovenian team and they go into Sunday up 2-1 and one win away from Euro/Africa Group 1. It would be a pretty incredible achievement for four players barely out of their nappies.

Lithuanian Davis Cup Team

Though Monday marked the end of the Grand Slams for another year, don’t think for a second that the tennis season is finished. The next weeks and months will see the players setting their sights on the Asian swing and the European Indoor Season before the best players in the world meet up in the ATP Barclays World Tour Finals, Sony Ericsson Championships, Bali Tournament of Champions (highest ranked winners of International events not participating in the YEC) as well as the Grand Finalé of the Fed Cup and Davis Cup competitions. There is still a lot to play for.

This week the ATP Tour will shift its focus to the Davis Cup. And there is a damn lot to focus on with a total of 18 ties taking place throughout the weekend. All eyes will of course be on the semifinals of the World Group which pits France against Argentina and Serbia versus Czech Republic. Who will prevail?

France vs. Argentina

France come into this semifinal match in red-hot form, having defeated defending champions Spain without losing a match. As the home team in that quarterfinal, France chose to play on a lightning-fast indoors court; thus giving Gael Monfils the incentive to use the devastating power that has always existed in the counterpuncher’s game, as well as presenting Michael Llodra’s serve-and-volley game with the surface it most thrives on. France are again the home team for this tie and have chosen to host the tie against Argentina on a very similar surface. They will be tough to beat.

Argentina are, however, more than capable of playing on fast courts. David Nalbandian’s game of course excells on the quickest courts in the world and after the heroics he put on in their quarterfinal against Russia, he will undoubtedly be out for blood this week. Argentina’s second player Juan Monaco is also more than comfortable on hardcourts, having reached the quarterfinals of Indian Wells earlier this year and the second week of the considerably quicker US Open in 2007. However, having only recently returned from injury it remains to be seen whether he can defeat the likes of Llodra and Monfils over five sets.

I think the tie will come down to the doubles match. While Nalbandian is clearly gunning for that Davis Cup trophy and will be hell-bent on destrying his French opponents, I just cannot see Monaco troubling Monfils or Llodra who both played some very good tennis during the US Open. For this reason I give France the edge. Should the doubles be the difference between the two teams, I would expect Llodra and Clement to win the tie for France. That’s not to say that Zeballos/Schwank don’t have a chance. The pair played impressively in their previous tie to dust away Davydenko/Kunitsyn in 4 sets. However, the team of Llodra/Clement present an even greater challenge. All shall be revealed shortly.

Serbia vs. Czech Republic

In their debut year in the World Group as an independent Nation, Serbia have gone from strength to strength, carrying themselves into their first World Group Semi-Finals (between Serbia and Yugoslavia) against the Czech Republic. Let’s cut to the chase, however. This tie will most likely come down to whether or not Novak Djokovic has had enough time to recover having played in the US Open final just three days ago. If he is ready to play then he will fancy his chances of picking up two wins for Serbia, however if he isn’t then Czech Republic will fancy their chances. With that said, luckily for Novak there is depth in the Serbian team. Janko Tipsarevic played some frighteningly great tennis at the US Open, dispatching Andy Roddick in five sets, and having a top doubles player on your team is never a bad thing.

2009′s shock finalists Czech Republic have this year cemented themselves as one of the top Davis Cup Nations in the world. However, even that can’t distract from the terrible truth. Talented as they are, both Berdych and Stepanek’s form of late has been very poor. Having romped his way to that historical final of Wimbledon in July, Berdych has failed to build on it and joined newly-married Stepanek in falling at the first hurdle of the US Open. The pair have always raised their game in Davis Cup play however, and as a doubles team they continue to improve. Still, Serbia to a historical first ever final.

(Pictures from daviscup.com and sportas.info)