[情報] McEnroe plumps for Fish over Blake in Slovakia
Thursday September 18, 10:35 PM
McEnroe plumps for Fish over Blake in Slovakia
By Peter Laca
BRATISLAVA, Sept 18 (Reuters) - U.S. captain Patrick McEnroe on Thursday picked Mardy Fish over James Blake to line up with Andy Roddick for Friday's opening singles matches in their Davis Cup World Group playoff tie against Slovakia.
Roddick, less than two weeks after winning his first grand slam title at the U.S. Open, will kick things off for the Americans when he faces Dominik Hrbaty in the first best-of-five-sets singles match.
Fish, the same age as Roddick at 21, will then square off against Slovak number one Karol Kucera in the second singles as the two sides battle to stay in the elite World Group zone.
Blake had been widely expected to get the nod over Fish even though only three places separate them in the ATP Tour Champions Race. Blake is the most experienced Davis Cup singles player on the squad, and has an 8-3 record overall compared to Fish's 1-2 record.
"It was a very tough decision, both guys worked very hard. I feel lucky to have the luxury of this decision and to have them both here," McEnroe told journalists after the draw.
"Mardy played very well recently, and he deserves to play, but it wasn't anything that James did or didn't do."
For Roddick, it will be his first appearance since beating Spain's Juan Carlos Ferrero in the final at Flushing Meadows.
NO FAVOURS
But the Slovaks have done him no favours, building a slow red clay court at the National Tennis Centre in Bratislava in an attempt to blunt his powerful ground strokes and serve.
The American is 7-2 overall in Davis Cup play -- including two wins over Slovakia last year -- but those two defeats both came on clay.
Slovakia will rely heavily on seasoned tour journeymen Karol Kucera and Dominik Hrbaty, both of whom grew up on the slow clay surface.
Kucera, who beat Fish in the second round of the U.S. Open, has a 30-15 showing in Davis Cup play, while Hrbaty is 17-14.
After several injury-plagued years, the 29-year-old Kucera has been showing signs of the form that took him into the world's top 10 in 1998.
"It was a pretty close match, and I think it could be like this now too. It will be a tough match for both of us," Fish said of his match with Kucera adding he was "not shocked" that McEnroe had given him the nod.
Brothers Bob and Mike Bryan will play Saturday's doubles against the pairing of Karol Beck and Michal Mertinak, though it is likely Slovak skipper Miroslav Mecir will change his line-up to let Kucera and Hrbaty play that match if need be.
Kucera and Roddick will kick off the reverse singles on Sunday with Hrbaty and Fish to play afterward.
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interesting rematch between Mardy and Karol...
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