Davis Cup Finals - Russia vs. USA

[HypeDec0y]

Now taking bets.

[mcfed]

Russia.

[[MDQ]FERCHU]

Russia all the way

[WarGot]

I think Russia will lose the doubles match but, in general, of course, will win

[Q. Reese]

You know that I have to go with my country.

[jayl0ve]

4 of the very best backhands in the world (Mikhail Youzhny, Nikolay Davydenko, Dmitri Tursonov, Marat Safin) and one of the biggest forehands in the world (Igor Andreev) vs. a big serve (Roddick) and a choking victim (Blake).

USA's going down in singles.

[rikardo12_lpSoldier]

Rashia.

[Q. Reese]

4 of the very best backhands in the world (Mikhail Youzhny, Nikolay Davydenko, Dmitri Tursonov, Marat Safin) and one of the biggest forehands in the world (Igor Andreev) vs. a big serve (Roddick) and a choking victim (Blake).

USA's going down in singles.

NOoooo! Do not tell me what is certain to happen. LOL.

[PahelJDilla]

Yikes, all of you guys picking Russia I'm stunned.

The US are probably going to go for a *fast* court, carpet or such.

Now, you have Roddick who is rather tough to beat under these circumstances (add the davis cup and playing at home factors).

I don't see any of the 4 Russian players javlove mentioned beating Roddick in this final.

Youzhny lost their last 3 matches and is not exactly having an impressive season as of late (his match against Petzschner and his doubles performance were equally dreadful).

Tursunov, to me, is just not quite there yet, he's way too mentally unstable. He is not gonna play singles anyway I take it.

Roddick leads Davydenko 4-0 (ok with the last meeting being the OZ Open 05) but the Russian doesn't strike me as the kind of guy who plays his heart out for his country, go figure why he wants to become Austrian so badly

Andreev yeah...I like his game a lot, his forehand is a thing of beauty. And he did beat Arod at Indy Wells last year. Still, the court for the final may going to be insanely fast and when so much depends on serving and nerves, I like Roddick.

Hehe no misunderstandings I'm far from being a Roddick fan myself, I just wanted to point out that it's awfully tough to beat him in his backyard and that none of the Russian players is a big server (save for Tursy maybe) or a particularly successful indoors player.

So you got Roddick winning 1, maybe even both singles match and you got the Bryans who are a lock to win the doubles (still ROFL about the Russians losing in 4 against Petzschner and Waske serving with 150 km/h)
and beating Jimmy James is not a piece of cake either.

He owns Davydenko so bad, their matches are the perfect example for a nightmare match up, with James taking the balls so early and hitting so flat and hard he can easily expose Davys forehand and impose his will on him. He's 6 and 0 against Nikolay and that's not likely to change on a fast surface.

He owns Andreev 5-0. Igor has a rather big swing on his forehand; it takes quite a while to generate enough speed, angle and top spin. James doesn't give him that time.

Ok he hasn't met Youzhny and Tursy yet.

I take the US winning this final any day of the week, score might be split after 1 day, the Bryans are gonna deliver the crucial lead to set up Andy in the first match on Sunday and he's not that bad in those dagger-matches.

[Q. Reese]

Okay. I picked USA because of my country (without betting or anything). I agree with you, because even Blake has a great series lead over Davydenko.

[SundanceKid]

Yikes, all of you guys picking Russia I'm stunned.

The US are probably going to go for a *fast* court, carpet or such.

Now, you have Roddick who is rather tough to beat under these circumstances (add the davis cup and playing at home factors).

I don't see any of the 4 Russian players javlove mentioned beating Roddick in this final.

Youzhny lost their last 3 matches and is not exactly having an impressive season as of late (his match against Petzschner and his doubles performance were equally dreadful).

Tursunov, to me, is just not quite there yet, he's way too mentally unstable. He is not gonna play singles anyway I take it.

Roddick leads Davydenko 4-0 (ok with the last meeting being the OZ Open 05) but the Russian doesn't strike me as the kind of guy who plays his heart out for his country, go figure why he wants to become Austrian so badly

Andreev yeah...I like his game a lot, his forehand is a thing of beauty. And he did beat Arod at Indy Wells last year. Still, the court for the final may going to be insanely fast and when so much depends on serving and nerves, I like Roddick.

Hehe no misunderstandings I'm far from being a Roddick fan myself, I just wanted to point out that it's awfully tough to beat him in his backyard and that none of the Russian players is a big server (save for Tursy maybe) or a particularly successful indoors player.

So you got Roddick winning 1, maybe even both singles match and you got the Bryans who are a lock to win the doubles (still ROFL about the Russians losing in 4 against Petzschner and Waske serving with 150 km/h)
and beating Jimmy James is not a piece of cake either.

He owns Davydenko so bad, their matches are the perfect example for a nightmare match up, with James taking the balls so early and hitting so flat and hard he can easily expose Davys forehand and impose his will on him. He's 6 and 0 against Nikolay and that's not likely to change on a fast surface.

He owns Andreev 5-0. Igor has a rather big swing on his forehand; it takes quite a while to generate enough speed, angle and top spin. James doesn't give him that time.

Ok he hasn't met Youzhny and Tursy yet.

I take the US winning this final any day of the week, score might be split after 1 day, the Bryans are gonna deliver the crucial lead to set up Andy in the first match on Sunday and he's not that bad in those dagger-matches.

never read such a perfect analysis before. you are right in any case pahel.
ok we're talking about an upcoming match, of course many unexpected things could still happen. injuries.....
and after my wrong prognosis about sweden-usa (i really thought björkmann could bother roddick and the bryan brothers would suck), i have to be careful with another one.

but nevertheless i think pahel is totally right. the only thing i'm not sure about is tursunow and safin. i wouldn't be surprised, if the play the singles. i remember, tursunow already beat roddick in a davis cup match 14:12 (?) in the last set. maybe with safin he could be russia's secret weapon.
but russia has a big problem if youzhny must play. i was really dissapointed about him vs germany. in the doubles he was the worst player on court, and one day later he had to fight against an veeeeeeeery nervous petzschner, ranked beyond 200. petzschner played really bad, many unforced errors, only backhand slice. ok, youzhny won it finally, but i wasn't really convinced.
on the other side i'm just a bit worried about blake. he hasn't a good weekend vs sweden opposed to roddick.
but i think blake and roddick are emotional (showmasters) players, and with their home crowd in the background, i think they could give a good show.
at the moment i would say roddick could win both singles and blake one at least.
and youzhny/tursunow are just a big joke vs the bryan brothers. (i thought before they could suck in big matches...but they put me right).
about davydenko....his behaviour on that weekend was ridiculus. i think russia should nominate safin for him.
about andreev... i don't think russia lets him play on hardcourt.
so i think safin and tursunow will play the singles.

[Elargento]

i voted usa, i think they can win the series if they are local.

[Q. Reese]

i voted usa, i think they can win the series if they are local.

Alright. Thanks for the patriotic support. Heh.

[jayl0ve]

I'm just going by the fact that the Russian team is more talented/better than the US team. Roddick is very solid, the guy rarely EVER loses to somebody he really shouldn't lose to, but James Blake is a basketcase. He plays very very dumb tennis.

[Q. Reese]

I'm just going by the fact that the Russian team is more talented/better than the US team. Roddick is very solid, the guy rarely EVER loses to somebody he really shouldn't lose to, but James Blake is a basketcase. He plays very very dumb tennis.

They are flopping on us. Blake played perfectly last year. Roddick is playing great this year.

Russia is a tough team for them to beat. America does have a great record against Davydenko. Both Roddick and Blake have a huge series lead over him.