!97493956 Mornin'. It's nice to see that I haven't been overly missed, which is a good thing because I'm still snowed under at the office and need to shovel my way through an Ion Tiriac piece today. So I won't have time to do a red-meat post on Davis Cup - or anything else.The good news is that in the coming days I'll have some thoughts on Tiriac, with whom I had a nice long conversation (we go back a pretty long way), and also on Anna Kournikova, with whom I also spoke at length a few days ago.
Anna had just returned from the USO tour of Iraq, Afghanistan and Germany, with Nick Bollettieri and a few show business personalities, including Billy Ray Cyrus. We'll have plenty to talk about as we ramp up to Indian Wells and the first U.S. Masters event of the year. As you know, many of the Twibe will be going to the desert - I trust you've all checked in with Jackie-Oh in case you want to hook up with fellow TW readers there. I'm sorry I won't be attending this year, but Steve Tignor will be there and posting. Right now, Andrew Burton and Jackie-Oh are slated to represent TW.
We recorded a new Davis Cup themed podcast this morning; please check it out at the home page when it goes live in a few hours. I also wrotea post for ESPN on the U.S. squad. I was impressed by Isner's efforts, and get the feeling that if he and Querrey put their minds and hearts to it, they could produce a significant one-two punch for the USA - especially at a time when the outstanding play of the Bryans gives the USA an enormous advantage in any given tie. The 3-2 score against Serbia was deceptive, in that Querrey won a meaningless dead rubber, but it was also deceptive in that it doesn't reflect the progress Isner seems to have made, and the promise his performances (in three different rubbers) held forth.
And boy, was I glad to see Fernando Gonzalez wrap it up for Chile!
The tie to watch in the next round will be Spain vs. France; I really like the chances of the French, given that they'll host and have choice of ground. If Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Gael Monfils stay healthy, I'd go with France to win the whole competition.
That's all for today, have a good 'un.
-- Pete