Davis Cup Quarterfinal Preview

Can the Swedes stun the US in Delray?
Bjorkman: 'Our team has experience on our side so that is a plus in our favor'
Swiss, Argentines, Spanish favored

By Matthew Cronin, with reporting by Brad Falkner in Delay Beach, Fla.
tennisreporters.net

© Mark Lyons

Bjorkman may need a triple to topple the US team.

The last time the US played Sweden in Davis Cup, the Nordics got their goats in a big way in the '97 final in Gothenburg.

When Mardy Fish takes the court for the first match against Jonas Bjorkman on Friday, Fish will have no memories of Sweden's 5-0 stunner of the Pete Sampras and Michael Chang-led team, but Bjorkman will, as he was responsible for two of Sweden's first three wins. That's why captain Mats Wilander isn't cowering.

"It's much easier playing here; there's much less pressure than playing at home," Swedish captain mats Wilander told tennisreporters.net. "Playing away is easier, especially against a big country. In the smaller ones, the crowd can be a bigger factor."

Bjorkman and Wilander are banking on their team's experience to upend the US once again. Even though the Swedes are missing the injured Joachim Johansson, they still trot a strong squad with Thomas Enqvist (who will play Andy Roddick in the second match of the day), teen Robin Soderling and '02 Aussie Open champ Thomas Johansson.

"Even with Joachim out we still have fielded an exceptionally strong team," Bjorkman told tr.net. "The court is not as slow as, say, Indian Wells and the balls are moving faster than there. So we have not even been thinking about this being a slow court. ... Our team has experience on our side so that is a plus in our favor."

While that may be true, this is the US's tie to win or lose. They are playing at home on their favorite medium-speed hard court with the reigning US Open and NASDAQ-100 Open champ Roddick playing No. 1 singles and the world's top doubles team in Bob and Mike Bryan pairing up on Saturday against the rare paring of Bjorkman/Enqvist.

But Wilander isn't overly impressed. "The fact they have one of the better players in the world I don't think scares us that much,'' Wilander said. "In Davis Cup, it's just one match."

Ron Cioffi/ tr.net

Mats Wilander

Wilander is hoping that youngsters and Florida residents Roddick and Fish will grow nervous playing in front of the home crowds. Roddick has already proven to be mentally tough in huge matches in front of thousands of eyes, but Fish hasn't. However, Fish beat Bjorkman in their only meeting at Nottingham, and is 2-0 against Enqvist. That has to give him some confidence.

"If we play well, I like our chances," US captain Patrick McEnroe said.

Bjorkman says that his match against Fish will resemble the Charge of the Light Brigade.

"I think both me and Mardy will be in a position to play the way we want to play," he said. "Both of us our going to go up and attack the net, because that's what we are both good at it."

But Bjorkman is no spring chicken and it may be too much to ask a 32-year-old to string together potentially three five set matches. He'll soldier on nonetheless.

"In many ways my game has improved, especially mentally from five or six years ago," said Bjorkman, who is 33-14 in Davis Cup and led the Swedes to an upset of Australia in the first round. "In the Davis Cup this is extremely important. I played two good matches lately against Andy, at Miami and in Doha, so I know that I can be competitive the whole way through against him."

If Roddick returns well enough, he should be able to race past the powerful but occasionally stiff Enqvist. The Bryans hold a slight edge in doubles, but a Bjorkman/Johansson victory is certainly not a stretch. The combo of a standout singles players with a doubles master can be deadly.

The US hasn't reached the final since '97, its longest stretch in 70 years. That has to be on the minds of McEnroe's boys.

"The bottom line is to play well and win three points," McEnroe said. "I'm confident. I'm always confident. Playing at home, playing with our best guys, I like our chances with anybody."

Swiss, Argentines, Spain favored
Of the other three quarterfinals this weekend, Argentina at Belarus, is the most intriguing, followed by France vs. Switzerland and the Netherlands vs. Spain.

At Minsk, Argentina's Agustin Calleri and Guillermo Cañas will have to come up huge with Guillermo Coria and Davis Nalbandian sidelined. Calleri – who has been on a hot streak as of late – will take on a Vladimir Voltchkov, with Cañas facing Max Mirnyi. The Argentines are better overall players, but may be serve-and-volleyed out of the competition on the slick indoor surface. However, Belarussian fans will expect a victory in this match, which will put much more pressure on the shaky Mirnyi and Voltchkov. Take the Argentines in a slight upset in this grudge match, which has already featured plenty of mud-slinging as to who is, and who is not doping.

"The Argentine team is pretty strong, although it is using its reserve team," Belarus captain Sergei Teterin said. "The draw turned out well. It's a 50-50 chance but we are playing at home and that is to our advantage."

At Lausanne, Roger Federer will be favored over Nicolas Escude, but fellow Swiss Ivo Heuberger will be a serious underdog against France's Arnaud Clement. The No. 134-ranked Heuberger has lost six of his previous seven Davis Cup matches, but was chosen ahead of another mediocre performer, Michel Kratochvil.

"I have great confidence in Ivo and believe he will be helped by a good home crowd and by his teammates," said Swiss captain Marc Rosset. Federer and his regular partner Yves Allegro will play Escude and Michael Llodra in doubles, a complete toss-up. It's more than likely that Federer will have to win three matches again if his nation is to survive. The No. 1 has done so in the past and should be able to do so again.

At Palma de Mallorca, Spain is a heavy favorite on clay with Juan Carlos Ferrero and Carlos Moya headlining in singles. The most important contest will be the opener, when Moya plays Roland Garros runner-up Martin Verkerk, followed by Ferrero against Raemon Sluiter. The Spanish vets should grab a 2-0 lead before sitting at the edges of their seats watching 17-year-old Rafael Nadal and Tommy Robredo face Verkerk and John van Lottum. An overall victory by the Dutch on dirt would be the biggest upset of the weekend.