So, what are everyone's general thoughts on the Davis Cup ties over the weekend?

Firstly, the semi-finals...

Germany, particularly Kohlschreiber, put in a great effort, and came fairly close to pulling off a shock victory against Russia. The Russians came through, as ever, due to their strength in depth in singles. Great performances from Andreev. It will be an interesting final against the Americans...

USA, as predicted, got their win against Sweden. As usual Roddick and the Bryans were reliable, which is more than can be said for Blake, who disappoints me in Davis Cup. I'm rooting for Roddick particularly, to lift Davis Cup, in what has been a disappointing year for him.

World Group play-offs...

I really think things have been shaken up in a big way. Davis Cup powerhouses Australia are out of the world group, as are Croatia, Switzerland and Chile, with Israel, Great Britain and South Korea all up there in their place.

The weekend must have been frustrating for Federer, wins both his singles matches, agonisingly falls short in the doubles, and then Wawrinka exposed as a weak link.

For Australia, it seems unthinkable that they are no longer in World Group, but to be fair, they really only have 1 top class singles player in Hewitt - and they miss Arthurs in the doubles.

The biggest shock of the play-offs was Israel's win against Chile (did not see that coming). South Korea took advantage against a fairly weak Slovak team.

And finally, last but not least...GB against Croatia...

There's two ways of looking at this tie...

In terms of the overall Davis Cup context, it was an anti-climax - GB got lucky in a big way, with Karlovic still in some sort of dispute with the Croatian federation, Ancic injured, and then Ljubicic pulling out at the last moment. The Brits were effectively playing against a second-string 'B' team, facing no players ranked within the top 100. A shame for Croatia, who have been so impressive in Davis Cup in recent years.

On a more positive note, it provided Henman with a perfect send-off - he played very well in both his singles and doubles, and it was a good way to bring his career to a close, in front of adoring fans at Wimbledon.

I have a feeling our luck will run out in Davis Cup next year (we'll probably face Argentina or Spain away on the clay!), but there was plenty of feelgood factor for Henman over the weekend, in the send-off he deserved...

Yes the DC was a bit odd with Croatia and GB. I went on Saturday, ti was fantastic to see Henman's last game. Lovely atmosphere and the match was good too. Tell you what, Cilic is gonna be a good player, that serve is a boomer. :o

I'd have prefered us to be able to beat Croatia on better strenght than they were, woudl have made ti more special for Henman but cannot complain really. It was a bit of an anti climax though as far a sa DC tie was concerned. it woudl have been fab to see Ancic and Karlovic play on grass, and of course Ljubicic going out at the last minute was quite sad. :( I felt sorry for Croatia tbh, their fans were great, we actually sat just behind their section. Ancic and Ljubicic both in fornt and kept walking past my seat! Ancic looks realyl sweet, and Ljubi looked a bit poorly to say the least. Wa sa great day out though for the Henman Massive like me. Great to be there n a special occassion :D Bad luck Croatia btw, I felt kinda trn for them as I am a huge fan of Croatian tennis. :(

When I looked at the ties I was most intrigued by Czech v Switzerland. I thought that looked tight, the Czechs are strong and had good doubles players then of course we have Fed and Wawrinka is not bad himself. Sounds quite a tie, wish i'd seen that. Bad luck Germany, would have been nice to see them beat the US - they sure showed committment. There have been some changes, and rather unexpected ones, to the WG. Sad for Australia, but as you say they onyl realyl have Lleyton now Arthurs has gone. :(

Thing is we are now going to the WG, but we haven't enough players! We've Andy and Jamie basically, and we can't banck on Andy too much esp with hsi injuries, adn be expcting 3 matches form him. I think Tim will have to come back. :D Who knows? He might just do so if he sees what a mess we are in next year.

SB, glad you had a good day out watching the tennis, enjoying Henman's retirement party at Wimbledon (and ogling the Croatian players!).

As for next year and GB, I really think this is where John Lloyd's luck will run out - this year, he had Henman and Rusedski helping out for matches, the emergence of Jamie Murray in doubles and of course Andy Murray's efforts. In 2007, the Great Britain Davis Cup team was probably the strongest its been for a long long time.

An ideal scenario would be for GB to draw Belgium, win that tie (and hence, not have to do the relegation/promotion play-off) then go out in quarters (we can't realistically go further than that), giving Murray and co a rest from Davis Cup in latter part of the season.

Australia, yes, its a shame - they've been one of the top Davis Cup sides for so long, but now they are a shadow of the team which won Davis Cup with the likes of Hewitt, Phillippoussis, Rafter, Woodbridge, Woodforde and Arthurs.

Will be interesting to see what the draw is like for 2008...will there be potential for more big name teams to get bundled out of the competition?

Thanks, I did indeed have a good day out :) Not sure abotu the oggling of Croatian players as my fave Goran (who I heard was invited) stod me up the swine! :rolleyes: If he had been there I'd have been right behind him, and there would have bene no escape for him I tell you :D Ancic was everywhere actually, even afterwards he was wandering roudn on his own in his large sunglasses. He looked very quiet and demure actually.

I enjoyed the doubles, Jamie is really good and more agressive than his demeanour appears. Hit a lot of body shots! :D And of course Tim was able to do a lot of the stuff he does the best, although I did laugh when he screwed up a volley, it looked so easy and he misjudged!


I agree that Lloyd got lucky. Without Tim I wonder how he'd have coped as Murray did struggle and 3 days might have been too much for him, and who else would have been good enough to play the singles, not to mention the doubles? Even the lesser ranked Croatians who played the doubles were pretty tricky at times for Tim and Jamie. Cilic's serves were evil, and him and Zovko were giving it their all and trying out the shots. I guess we were lucky that the top Croatians were out too, but whatever happened IMo those doubles were pretty crucial for us. I guess we may have a chance if we draw the right team. Jamie is world class but he needs a wordl class partner of course and I feel that too much hope will be pinned on Andy, which is going to be tricky if he's having further injury worries and coudl of course jeopardise hsi individual committments. I just don't see a solution at the moment. I don't knwo much abotu Jamie Baker but I doubt he will be ready to play at a world class level any time soon.

I can't see us winning the next tie to be honest we just don't have a team. You can't expect Andy to play every day, we really shouldn't have to do that. But reallistically who is there? There is no one else around at the moment that could put in a decent performance. We really are going to miss Tim on the team and as much as some of you didn't like Greg he was a good force to have in terms of Davis Cup. It's great getting onto the world group but we won't be there long unless some surpise player emerges from the woodwork. Shame.

Yep. How are you WA btw? Long time no see... :)

I agree on Greg. I had nothing against him whatsoever and his committment to DC is unquestionable IMO. I can't remember all the matches but he did pretty well for us over the years.

Hi SB, I am great ta, Have been away on my hols. Glad you had a gd time at DC.
Greg and Tim doubles used to be great, think they only lost the last one out of all the times they played together. Plus he was always so up for DC and dedicated, it's hard to find such enthusisam these days.

I know. And look at the stick Greg gets as he is not of full British origin! :rolleyes: Yes I remember some of their doubles, they were very good. Hope you had a good holiday anyway WA, and nice to see you around :)