Davis Cup: World Group Round 1 - Argentina v GB

wolf · Tennis legend

Davis Cup: World Group Round 1 - Argentina v GB

Michael · Pro player

RE: Davis Cup: Round 1

wolf · Tennis legend

Michael wrote:

How do you no who we could possibly play at home or away?

Because how it works is the two countries take it in turns to play home and away. For example last time we played USA we played them at home, so we have to play them away next time we play them. If we draw a country which we haven't played before (e.g. Russia) then the venue will be random.

Montana Doug · Futures qualifying

The last time we played the USA was an amazing weekend of tennis....I still get goosebumps thinking about the tennis that weekend. I am not sure if I can remember a better weekend of tennis.

steven · Tennis legend

The question is, do we want a home tie this time to give us more of a chance or winning a WG tie or do we want to start racking up the away ties so that we are more likely to get lots of home ties if we ever have a team capable of winning the whole thing ... ?

johnnylad · Tennis legend

That match ve USA at the NIA in Birmingham is definitely what gave me the tennis bug.

Henman/Rusedski vs Courier, Todd Martin and Alex O'Brien i think.

Quality match!

Salmon · Tennis legend

Our team looks terribly weak, now that Tim and Greg are not there any more.

Drew · Sep 27, 2007

Depending on the draw I will be going to the next match

Argentina (away) Too Far !!
Spain (away) Yip !
Sweden (away) Yip !
USA (away) Too Far !!
Germany (home) Yip !
France (home) Yip !
Russia (venue decided by lot) no way !!
Belgium (by lot) Yip !!

mike55 · Lower Club Player

The draw is out:

Russia (s)(c)
v
Serbia

Belgium (s)
v
Czech Republic (c)

Argentina (s)
v
Great Britain (c)

Sweden (s)
v
Israel (*)(c)

Korea
v
Germany (s)(*)(c)

Peru (*)(c)
v
Spain (s)

Romania (c)
v
France (s)

Austria (c)
v
USA (s)

(s) indicates seeded & (c) = choice of ground, so its Argentina in the UK for us.

Anyone fancy grass in February?

mike55 · Lower Club Player

mike55 wrote:
Anyone fancy grass in February?

I lifted the above direct from the Davis Cup website, and it indicates that we have choice of ground, which seems odd as we last played Argentina in the UK in 1989. That should give then the choice. Either it's a mistake or I'm confused.

Stircrazy · Tennis legend

mike55 wrote:

mike55 wrote:
Anyone fancy grass in February?

I lifted the above direct from the Davis Cup website, and it indicates that we have choice of ground, which seems odd as we last played Argentina in the UK in 1989. That should give then the choice. Either it's a mistake or I'm confused.

A mistake, if the Beeb is to be believed...

GB to face Argentina in Davis Cup

Great Britain have been drawn away against third seeds Argentina in the Davis Cup first round in February. Britain were unseeded and a trip to Argentina was among the toughest draws they could have received. John Lloyd's team qualified for the elite World Group for the first time since 2003 with a 4-1 win over Croatia at the weekend. Britain have not won a World Group tie since Lloyd, Jeremy Bates and Colin Dowdeswell defeated Spain in 1986. Following Tim Henman's retirement, Britain will rely heavily on Andy Murray, who is the only top-100 player in Lloyd's team.

Argentina boast 12 players in the world's top 100, including number 13, Guillermo Cañas, number 16, Juan Ignacio Chela, number 19, Juan Monaco and number 22, David Nalbandian.

As the home team, Argentina can also pick the surface the match will be played on and are sure to choose clay to suit their players. Murray has promised to make himself available for the tie despite his scheduling concerns about the competition. "Except for Roger Federer in Switzerland I've never really played against the best players in the world in Davis Cup," said the 20-year-old. "Now I have a chance of winning against them it's going to be exciting. I might have to alter my schedule to try and fit Davis Cup in. I'll just have to wait and see what happens, but if I'm feeling 100% fit I'm going to play Davis Cup."

Britain's lack of strength in depth means Murray is likely to have to play three matches in three days, teaming up with his brother Jamie in the doubles. The second singles spot is up for grabs, with Alex Bogdanovic, Jamie Baker and Richard Bloomfield all hoping to impress Lloyd in the coming months. Serbia, in the World Group for the first time, were drawn away against top seeds Russia.

Second seeds USA must travel to Austria, while fourth seeds Spain are away to Peru.

WORLD GROUP FIRST-ROUND DRAW

Argentina v Great Britain

Peru v Spain

Austria v USA

Germany v Korea

Romania v France

Russia v Serbia

Czech Rep v Belgium

* What appalling luck! That's Team GB straight back down among the hoi polloi... cry

steven · Tennis legend

We have beaten Argentina once before in DC - 4-1 on clay in Torquay in 1928. Next year will be the 80th anniversary of that win ...

Since then, we have lost 5-0 to them in Buenos Aires in a WG semi-final in 1981 - Lewis & Mottram both lost to both Clerc & Vilas in singles, while Jarrett (the new Wimby referee) & Smith lost to Clerc/Vilas in the doubles.

Even more embarrassingly, we lost 3-2 to them on GRASS in Eastbourne in 1989 in the WG qualifying round. Jeremy Bates beat both Jaite & Mancini in singles, Chris Bailey lost to both of them and, most shameful of all, Nick Brown and a certain full-of-himself commentator called Andrew Castle lost the doubles to Frana/Luza in straight sets. doh

steven · Tennis legend

mike55 wrote:
I lifted the above direct from the Davis Cup website, and it indicates that we have choice of ground, which seems odd as we last played Argentina in the UK in 1989. That should give then the choice. Either it's a mistake or I'm confused.

Now corrected on the DC website.

MrBaseliner · Social player

Davis Cup: World Group Round 1 - Argentina v GB

helki · Futures qualifying

Stircrazy
* What appalling luck! That's Team GB straight back down among the hoi polloi...

Never a truer word spoken, but whoever we drew was likely to be a tough one. weirdface

Whatever the surface and wherever the tie, we need someone to step up to the challenge. We can't expect the Argentine team to be as accommodating as Croatia were, can we?