The Russian team, whose players have come to America from various spots around the globe, is getting ready for the match. The first joint workout is scheduled for Monday and the team's all-time captain Shamil Tarpishchev flew in from Moscow carrying a briefcase with detailed game plans for each of his matches on November 30, and December 1 and 2. Tarpishchev, of course, hopes there will be no less than five matches and the winner will not be known until Sunday.
The signs are that may be so, even though the American team will already have one point under its belt before the match starts. There is nothing to be done: the American doubles team, brothers Bob and Mike Bryan, is the best in the world and practically invincible. Their interaction during play is perfect. Last year, when Russia hosted the U.S. in the Davis Cup semis, the brothers trounced Dmitry Tursunov and Mikhail Yuzhny in three straight sets 6:3, 6:4, 6:2.
Russian-U.S. head-to-head tennis history is relatively brief. Twelve years ago the Russian team lost the Davis Cup final in Moscow in a contest that was too close to call. In 1998, the teams met in Atlanta in the first round of the Davis-Cup because of the draw and the Americans won again 3:2. Last year the Russian team won in the semi-finals (3:2) to go on to win the cup.
Tarpishchev long ago announced the Russian squad. No surprises there: Nikolai Davydenko, Mikhail Yuzhny, Dmitry Tursunov and Igor Andreyev. For a while Marat Safin was supposed to join the team, but the captain later decided not to draft him because recently Safin had been busy doing things far removed from tennis, such as mountain climbing in full gear, which did not add to his tennis form. That said, if Safin had stayed with the team he could be more of a challenge to the Bryan brothers than the pair we are going to see.
The undoubted leader of the Russian squad is Nikolai Davydenko. His last appearance in the year-ending men's tournament in Shanghai was not amazing, but he is still among the world's top players and can well beat both Andy Roddick and James Blake in Portland. True, Davydenko's head-to-head score with Roddick is a dismal 0:7 and with Blake 0:4, but when it is a team event, the chances are always equal. Shamil Tarpishchev watched the last match Davydenko lost to Roddick in Shanghai and thinks it gave him some new ideas about "planning future matches against Roddick."
The Russian team has an edge on the other Davis Cup squads because any of its players can hold his own against any rival with a chance to win. For example, Davydenko and Andreyev can play on the first day and Tursunov and Yuzhny on the final day. One of the strengths of the Russian players is that they can greatly raise their play when it comes to team events, even if they happen at the end of a long season that was admittedly not very successful for most of the leading players.
Tarpishchev, of course, will fiddle with the line-up as he alone can do, depending on the state of his players, information from the rival camp, observations during the final practice session, and the quality of surface... The Russian captain has the knack for making the most of his chances. Obviously, no amount of psyching up can guarantee victory, but it will certainly help. The psychological element is very important.
The Americans haven't won a Davis Cup in twelve years. Russia is the defending champion. What more is needed in the way of promoting the match? The 12,000 seats at the Memorial Coliseum were snatched up within half an hour. The local crowd, of course, will fill the terraces and cheer for their team. But the Russian team, it will be remembered, can look very convincing when playing before a hostile crowd. One only has to look back at its 1/8 final win in Chile.
On the road to the final Russia passed Chile, France and Germany, and the Americans overcame the Czechs, Spaniards and Swedes. All the previous matches are forgotten, however, when the famous Davis Cup is placed on the court. Winning habits die hard, and the Russian team is determined to hold on to its title.
The opinions expressed in this article are the author's and do not necessarily represent those of RIA Novosti.
