Earlier this week I argued that Davis Cup should switch their format to a yearly two week event instead of a series of four home and away matches throughout the year. Then I got to thinking…

What makes Davis Cup special? Answer: unruly crowds, bad calls and extreme surfaces. Take the Davis Cup tie between the U.S. and Austria this weekend as an example. The Austrians dumped a bunch of red clay on the floor of a velodrome a few days before the event started and called it a clay court even though it had a bald spot a few feet inside the baseline – you could see through to the surface below.

See that Andy Roddick Powerade commercial above? That shot is fake. There’s no way Roddick could impale the ball into the court unless he stuffed a tennis ball in a bazooka gun and shot it straight down at the court. He might come close on the Austrian court though. It was that loose and soft.

All the better for Roddick’s opponent, Jurgen Melzer, to hit his funky two handed backhand drop shot. Time and again he hit the ball deep then followed that up with a drop shot then followed that up with a passing shot. Each time Roddick had to run a for a drop shot he looked like one of those cartoon characters whose feet are spinning like crazy but going nowhere.

Late in the second set, the ball took a bad bounce and flew way over Roddick’s racket. In the fourth set, a Melzer serve skidded underneath Roddick’s racket. Did they mix some pebbles in with the clay or just forget to smooth it out.

Roddick essentially skips the clay court season each year yet he bangs out long clay court victories in Davis Cup and he did it again today. He beat Melzer in five sets, 6-4, 4-6, 6-3, 6-7 (4), 6-3, because he won the big points. He refused to lose.

Melzer was serving to stay in the first set and had Roddick on the run when he hit an average approach shot. Roddick passed him to get a set point and one point later won the first set. Roddick ran down just enough balls for Melzer to make a mistake.

Would Roddick play with so much pride if Davis Cup was a two week tournament? Doesn’t a lot of his pride come from playing in front of a hostile crowd in his opponent’s country or in front of his home crowd?

And one more thing, if Davis Cup becomes a two week tournament, how would it be different from Hopman Cup or the team event at Dusseldorf except in length? Davis Cup would be yet another tournament competing with other tournaments for players.
I stand corrected. Leave Davis Cup alone. This is too much fun.

James Blake had much less trouble with Stefan Koubek. He beat him rather easily in four sets, 5-7, 7-5, 6-2, 6-2. Bob and Mike Bryan beat Julian Knowle and Melzer, 6-1, 6-4, 6-2, in Saturday’s doubles match and so the U.S. passes through to the quarterfinals where they’ll play France.

There weren’t any bad line calls and the home crowd wasn’t totally out of control though they did annoy Roddick. Maybe I’ll get my unruly crowds and bad line calls in the next round.