Your thoughts please on who will win the Davis Cup

Before i vote, can i just ask - as a relative newbie to the whole Davis Cup thing - how much of an advantage is it to play at home and have the choice of surface?

I mean, in terms of stats - do the home team almost always win?

I don't know the stats, but usually home advantage is big. The home team gets to choose the surface, usually..

I'm not exactly sure which surface Russia will go for. I would have thought hard courts, maybe??

i'd also guess that Russia will go into this as favourites to win too, as a resurgent Safin, along with Davydenko, Youzhny, and Tursunov will prove to be a formidable team. Argentina are also usually much better at home than they are away..

I think someone on the Beeb website suggested that Russia would go for the fastest hardcourts possible.

Just in terms of motivation as well i'd assume that playing at home must be a significant advantage.

I think i'll go for russia, just because all their players seem to be doing well at the moment, 'cos they get to play on their chosen surface, 'cos they'll be at home - and 'cos....well, i'd just like them to win!!!

Hmm.. the hardcourts would certainly suit Safin, Tursunov and Youzhny.. and Davydenko is no slouch on them either.. just look at how well 3 of those 4 did in the USO.. :)


Agreed! Russia to win!! :ok:

Considering that Argentina won 5-0 against Oz in the semis and Russia only by 3-2 against the US (or was it 4-1), I'll go against the stream and back the unpopular Argantinians :D

Ooh!! :yikes:

Fair enough, Scolios..!

Davai Russia!! :yahoo:

(that'll be me nailing my allegiance firmly to the mast then..!) :D

Actually, I prefer the Russians (esp Youzhny), but what the hell...

Ah.. why not! This board might indeed be more pro russia than other boards, so may balance it out a little here..

(Oh, btw apparently Fed was awesome against novak today.. Won 4 service games in a row to love or something.. :bow: And novak said he played some of his best tennis too..)

Yes, I followed the live scores (and the other Davis Cup matches, too) and a couple of threads on the beeb. Totallyspotless was watching it on a Swiss TV station and said the match was sensational. Young Djokovic played the game of his life and apparently the scores didn't reflect the quality of his performance. Fed did quite well, too :D Someone also said something about Djoko wanting to take on British nationality. Is that true? he woud be a great asset to Britain!

I really rate novak, I think that he's a big player for the future, and may well surpass murray, gasquet et al.. see him as making the top 5 one day..

yes, there was a rumour about him switching nationality.. to do with funding of training for him and his brother.. I doubt that he will play for team GB, but if he did, he would of course be a major asset, and would transform the side. It just wouldn't feel right if he did though.. :blush:

i would have expected the russians to have chosen an indoor carpet - they are brilliant on that surface whereas the argies apart from nalby have poor records on carpet

would have to go for russians if they choose carpet and it would probably be very one sided

Hi mkkreuk..

Yes, any super-fast surface will surely be the order of the day, and with that in mind it would be no surprise is carpet were the preferred surface..