Davis Cup 2017 World Group R1 - Canada v Great Britain - 3-5 February

Miriambee · Futures level

RE: Davis Cup 2017 World Group R1 - Canada v Great Britain - 3-5 February

Spectator · All-time great

It was a silly and dangerous thing to do in that space, and he's rightly defaulted and fined. I hope the umpire is OK - the news reports suggested that they were taking him to the hospital as a precaution. Hope that's all it is. As for Mr Shapovalov, may he never hit another ball in anger. Somehow, I doubt he will. I also hope that people don't bring this up at every opportunity: it was clearly not done with intent to harm. If he doesn't do anything similar hereafter, let it lie. Shapovalov generally comes across as fairly well grounded: in this instance he looked (rightly) horrified and mortified and has apologised copiously.

I do also think there's a question for the captain. Yes, they had few good options. But sending a 17 year old out to play a live 5th rubber against a top-50 player (even on an unfavoured surface) in the World Group at home was something I was surprised to see anyone doing, even with the paucity of options.

On a happier note, well done to Mr Edmund. Admiration for Mr Pospisil (glad he wasn't able to do the doubles as well, though!). And onwards to France ...

-- Edited by Spectator on Monday 6th of February 2017 12:28:13 AM

Smudge226 · Strong Club Player

Another block-buster of an away tie for GB. Great performance really from the whole team in the end. Pospisil was inspired and extremely well matched to this surface, so no disgrace for either boys getting turned over against him.
Really pleased for Kedders, he put the youngster in his place and played really well in the fifth. Shapsters eye pinger was just a freak incident, he wasn't really looking, just utter fustration but he'll take a big lesson from this, went off with head bowed, obviously ashamed with himself. The ref was fine, I think.
Our doubles boys gave us the match really, considering, didn't they? Dom's performance was perhaps the best from our team for me, didn't think I'd be saying that. smile Great match really enjoyed it, lets have a word for that amazing GB support out there as well. I'm starting to recognise a few of the Sterling Uni support team, becoming minor celeb's some of these guys...

vohor · Grand Slam Champion

Crumbs...only just catching up with this; bizarre ending but doesn't take away from the fact that's a great all round team effort from our guys and delighted that Kedders rose to the occasion in the deciding rubber. Well done Team GBR :D :D :D

stevemcqueen · Futures qualifying

A most bizarre end to a very entertaining DC w/e. At least tennis is going to be front page news this morning! I have yet to watch it, but I think that in many respects it is similar to the Tim Henman incident - a frustrated player hitting a ball away in anger without paying attention to where he is hitting it. If he had smashed his racket like Dan did earlier in the day, it wouldn't have been a problem. Part of the problem is that Denis and Tim are/was so young and will rarely played in front of a crowd. Smacking a ball into the fence on the practice court or at a small event is just about acceptable, but is a habit that should not be transferred to the big stage. As a youngster, you'll get into trouble for breaking rackets and you could easily end up having to pay for replacement from your own pocket.

A long time ago I remember a WTA player getting into hot water for kicking a ball in anger and it hitting the umpire. That probably hurt a great deal less though...

JonH · All-time great

Good weekend of Davis Cup tennis. With all the debate about the problems with DC at the moment, three things struck me:

1) Best of 5 really makes a difference in terms of drama and the whole feel of the event. Best of three would surely detract massively

2) Home team v away team - in terms of atmosphere, surely that has to stay as something that cant be changed

3) Top 20 rank players - didnt really miss them!

Going forwards, interesting draw:

Argentina v Belgium in ARG or Belgium v Italy in BEL (depends on 5th rubber of ARG v ITA held over to today

AUS v USA in AUS (hardcourt already decided it seems, venue not).

FRA v GB in FRA - is clay in France in April most likely, perhaps indoor clay?

SRB v SPA in SRB - with Djokovic and Nadal a possible match, what surface would Serbia choose.

Lots in intrigue there and home court advantage certainly will play in to all this. Australia, looking at which countries are left, would have home ties versus 5 of the other 7 teams left and if they can keep at home must fancy their chances this year.

Vandenburg · Futures level

The Davis cup is as good as dead, for the same reason doubles is dead.

The only thing that matters in the game now is grand slam singles titles, nothing else. This is the fact and the way the game has been become to be viewed.

This has become a detriment to the doubles game, because the top players no longer play doubles. The vast majority of doubles players now are failed singles players, yes there is some that do both, like Mahut. The Bryans for example were NOT the best doubles players, cirica 2000-2010, just by ranking. If the top singles players actually played doubles, the Bryans would be nowhere in sight. We often see this in DC, where the top players opt to play doubles, like Andy, and really expose these people in the top 10 of the doubles rankings. In the 80s/90s one of the most exciting things about going to see doubles was the fact you could see, the top singles players, and not nobodys like Bryans and Nester.

And the same is for the davis cup. So many people opting to miss it, it is becoming a joke. Even Goffin did not play for Belgium this weekend. I think it is great that GB won the DC, but had Fed,stan, Novak opted to play that year, would we have???

DC needs a revamp, they need to do something to attract the top players back.

Mark1968 · Intermediate Club Player

Vandenburg wrote:
The Davis cup is as good as dead, for the same reason doubles is dead.

The only thing that matters in the game now is grand slam singles titles, nothing else. This is the fact and the way the game has been become to be viewed.

This has become a detriment to the doubles game, because the top players no longer play doubles. The vast majority of doubles players now are failed singles players, yes there is some that do both, like Mahut. The Bryans for example were NOT the best doubles players, cirica 2000-2010, just by ranking. If the top singles players actually played doubles, the Bryans would be nowhere in sight. We often see this in DC, where the top players opt to play doubles, like Andy, and really expose these people in the top 10 of the doubles rankings. In the 80s/90s one of the most exciting things about going to see doubles was the fact you could see, the top singles players, and not nobodys like Bryans and Nester.

And the same is for the davis cup. So many people opting to miss it, it is becoming a joke. Even Goffin did not play for Belgium this weekend. I think it is great that GB won the DC, but had Fed,stan, Novak opted to play that year, would we have???

DC needs a revamp, they need to do something to attract the top players back.

Boo, hiss. I love the quick fire doubles, far more entertaining than singles, no monotonous back hand cross court 30 shot rallies, no Nadal and all his time consuming twiches etc.

Davis Cup is a dinosaur, I couldn't care less about it. Needs to played every other year, then top players might play and people like me might look forward to it.

JonH · All-time great

Only thing I would say is that across 8 ties, 24 days of tennis were played and at a guess, maybe 200,000 spectators turned up to watch (based on 6,000 to 8,000 per venue per day)

I would say that is pretty popular. Across the year, in the World Group and World Group play offs, we get crowds of maybe 750,000 or thereabouts ( I am sure the real stats are available) based on 23 matches and 3 days each.

Add in the non World Group and maybe a million people a year watch it live?

As for TV, every tie in World Group was shown in at least 2 countries and maybe more, so millions will have seen the matches on TV this weekend

Doesnt feel dead to me...

-- Edited by JonH on Monday 6th of February 2017 12:12:15 PM

Spectator · All-time great

Nor to me! Interestingly, I noticed that Tennis magazine ran for its headlines with the GB/Canada tie (for unfortunate reasons), then the Belgium tie, and then the US tie. And that's for a US-focused market.z Heroics like Steve Darcis' are part of the charm of the whole, regardless of your nationality.

That said, while I'd hate them to touch the home/away format or the five sets format, I do think they need to look at the scheduling. Putting things the week after the Grand Slams is fairly rough to the top players. And the relentlessness of the cycle, which has Argentina winning in December and fighting to maintain their place in the world group in early February is also problematic.

JonH · All-time great

Spectator wrote:
Nor to me! Interestingly, I noticed that Tennis magazine ran for its headlines with the GB/Canada tie (for unfortunate reasons), then the Belgium tie, and then the US tie. And that's for a US-focused market.z Heroics like Steve Darcis' are part of the charm of the whole, regardless of your nationality.

That said, while I'd hate them to touch the home/away format or the five sets format, I do think they need to look at the scheduling. Putting things the week after the Grand Slams is fairly rough to the top players. And the relentlessness of the cycle, which has Argentina winning in December and fighting to maintain their place in the world group in early February is also problematic.

Agreed, Spectator - i think there are two routes that need to be explored re dates:

1) 4 weeks a year doesnt work, even worse in Olympic Years. Must be cut down to 3, take out Feb probably and spread from April to November for the last 3 rounds.

2) Whereas 1 above may help, it really needs to have the ATP embrace the Davis Cup as part of their tour. Could they buy/acquire a share in the event, really promote it, put ATP points to it and dont all get so het up about competing dates with other events. Montpellier, Sofia and Quito could have been put last week and this week and DC up against them one week later - as we get into later rounds, there are only 16 players in the last 8 World Group who are taken out of mainstream tour events and most of those wouldnt be playing this week anyway I suspect. It really needs ATP to grab it and if it means them running the top World Group and ITF focusing on the lower tiers, then maybe that should be explored. Embrace it, promote it, make it part of the ATP Tour, acquire an interest from the ITF - surely that is the way to take it. If it becomes the ATP Tennis World Cup for the Davis Cup, and colloquially known as the Davis Cup, then that surely would be fine?? At the season end we would have the ATP Tennis World Cup Final, with the winners winning the Davis Cup. Now that sounds quite appealling to me...

Smudge226 · Strong Club Player

It's not the Davis Cup's fault the calendar is packed, it was there first before the money came...
It's Commercial/Club V Country again...

The EPL clubs will rest half their top players for the early rounds but they'll pick a full side for the semi's and that's the same in the DC isn't it?
The calendar could be improved for the semi's but the format should remain unmolested, for me.

Why don't we have a vote as we are prone to do...?
Could be several votes, calendar change only V none, 3sets & 2days V current format, neutral semi final & final venue V current home/away format etc

JonH · All-time great

Smudge226 wrote:

It's not the Davis Cup's fault the calendar is packed, it was there first before the money came...
It's Commercial/Club V Country again...

The EPL clubs will rest half their top players for the early rounds but they'll pick a full side for the semi's and that's the same in the DC isn't it?
The calendar could be improved for the semi's but the format should remain unmolested, for me.

Why don't we have a vote as we are prone to do...?
Could be several votes, calendar change only V none, 3sets & 2days V current format, neutral semi final & final venue V current home/away format etc

The analogy to the FA Cup and Premier League teams ( I hate to use phrase EPL, it just isn't right!) is a good one, that is exactly how it works. That is what squads are for and it is still exciting too follow the rounds unfolding. As it happens, the top 6 Premier League teams are still in the last 16 of the FA Cup this year, with two non league teams giving a lot of romance to this years cup still - a bit like maybe Costa Rica and Cameroon reaching the Davis Cup World Group I guess, and good luck to them!

christ · Futures level

I prefer the Davis Cup without the certainty of the top players. I find it enormously frustrating that one player can with the Davis Cup if he plays all three games (and wins them), but the enormous popularity of the round that we have just seen was surely in part because we had the uncertainty of time after time, venue after venue, the world 150 playing - with a good chance of winning - the world 50, and home advantage really influencing such results. This makes for much more fun-to-watch stuff than seeing the world number 3 murder the world number 100-125 twice and then muscle in on the doubles to force the issue round after round.

And it really does seem from the recent coverage and attendance that nationalistic jingoism counts for an awful lot, even when Field Marshall Murray/ Nadal/ Federer is absent.Prime time BBC2 coverage for Murray-less tennis? who would have thought it in this day and age.

indiana · Tennis legend

While I do see ( another ) real issue with the format that one player can in theory 'win' the Davis Cup along with another good doubles player, and unquestionably there have been some great matches in R1 and the Davis Cup home/away format creates great atmospheres, I still have big issues that in what is sold as the 'World Cup' of tennis and should be a contest including the best we get other 'interesting' matches between nations' lower ranked players.

1 of the top 14 competed in World Group R1, out of the 12 eligible.

Perhaps the World Group needs reduced to 8, so 3 rounds rather than 4, as with the women's top group, and each tie have more matches involving a deeper squad. Or you could still have best of 5 matches, but with 3 singles ( players just play one singles match ) and 2 doubles matches.