A Davis Cup Quarterfinal Built for the Home Team

Everything about the Davis Cup quarterfinal between the United States and Spain seems to favor the Americans.

The sellout crowd of more than 16,000 in Andy Roddick’s hometown is sure to be a rowdy, flag-waving bunch. The indoor surface at the Frank Erwin Center at the University of Texas plays hard and fast and is not ideal for Spanish players raised on clay. And Rafael Nadal, the No. 2 player in the world, is skipping the quarterfinal to rest after Wimbledon.

As a result, the Americans are feeling very good about their chances of knocking off a Spanish team that is playing for its third Davis Cup championship in four years.

The best-of-five quarterfinal begins Friday with singles matches. Mardy Fish, the No. 8-ranked player in the world, is the top seed for the Americans and will play Feliciano Lopez in the first match. Roddick, ranked 10th in the world, meets No. 6 David Ferrer in the second.

Fish is 3-2 lifetime against Lopez. Ferrer is 4-3 against Roddick, who carries a 33-11 Davis Cup record into the match.

“We have a true home-field advantage with Andy in Austin,” Jim Courier, the United States captain, said Thursday. “You know, he’s roughly the mayor of this town.”

Roddick, a 10-year veteran of Davis Cup play, lobbied hard to get the quarterfinal in Austin. In 1992, at age 10, Roddick went to Fort Worth to watch Courier and the United States defeat Switzerland in the Davis Cup final. The raucous, vibrant crowd and the cheering, clanging cowbells and airhorns left a lasting impression on him. Roddick hopes the crowd in Austin will create a similar atmosphere this year.

“Just seeing the people go mental for tennis, ‘USA’ chants, flags, all sorts of stuff,” Roddick said. “It left me with a dream.”

With Nadal sitting out of the quarterfinal, Ferrer will play as Spain’s top seed.

Nadal, who was part of Spain’s Davis Cup-winning teams in 2004, 2008 and 2009, said he needed time off after Wimbledon. He criticized the timing of playing a Davis Cup quarterfinal just one week later.

Both teams are full of players who were at Wimbledon. Fish lost to Nadal in the quarterfinals. Lopez beat Roddick in the third round. Ferrer made it to the quarterfinals, and the American team of Bob and Mike Bryan won the Wimbledon doubles championship.

“For sure, Rafael is a very important player in our team, but right now he is not here,” said Albert Costa, Spain’s captain. “We have these four players, they know how to win Davis Cup. They are very experienced. For sure they will play with passion, with heart.”

Costa said being in Austin could affect Roddick.

“Big pressure for him to play with his public, his people, his country,” Costa said.

Roddick appeared loose enough while hamming up a prematch news conference with jokes and funny faces. In the crowd was Roddick’s second-grade teacher.

“Thank you for teaching me to read,” Roddick said. “That was great of you. It’s served me well.”

The quarterfinal also will be the first Davis Cup home tie for Courier as the United States captain. A four-time Grand Slam event winner and a former Davis Cup singles player, Courier made his Davis Cup debut as captain in March in a first-round win over Chile in Santiago.

As hosts, the Americans got to choose the court surface and picked a hard and fast acrylic they hope will help big hitters like Fish and Roddick.

“It’s a little bit faster than normal,” said Lopez, who beat Roddick on grass at Wimbledon. “But this is what we expected.”

Picking the court surface is part of squeezing out every advantage possible for the home team, Courier said.

“The mandate is not for us to find a court that suits everyone, it’s to find a court that suits ourselves within the rules, which is what we’ve done,” Courier said. “It’s playing beautifully.”

Spain and the United States have met nine previous times in Davis Cup play, with Spain holding a 5-4 series lead. Nadal led Spain to a 4-1 semifinal win in 2008. The only time they met in the final was a 3-2 Spanish victory in 2004.

“We’ve had a lot of battles against them, you know, especially over there on the dirt,” Mike Bryan said. “I don’t want to say there’s a rivalry, but there is.”


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