By Chris Oddo | Thursday September 17, 2015
Andy Murray and Thanasi Kokkinakis will get things started on Friday for the Brits and Aussies in Glasgow.
Photo Source: Jordan Mansfield/Getty
Great Britain is bidding for its first Davis Cup final in 37 years, while Australia looks to end the Lleyton Hewitt era with an emotional return to the final for the first time since 2003.
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Either way you slice it, this weekend’s tie in Glasgow, the 13th between these proud tennis nations, shapes up to be an historical blast through the past and into the future.
Andy Murray has already done more than his share of pioneering for the host Brits, but he’ll be asked to shoulder the load once again against a diverse group of Aussies that will counter with a mix of youth, experience, and Hewitt.
Murray will be heavily favored to take both his singles rubbers, which means that Bernard Tomic will face considerable pressure when he runs up against World No. 300 Dan Evans in Friday’s second rubber, as will whomever faces Evans on Sunday.
But nothing in this tie is written in stone—it’s why they play the rubbers, after all. Friday’s first match pits 19-year-old Thanasi Kokkinakis against Murray. The great Scot has taken Kokkinakis under his wing this season, practicing and playing some doubles with him, and he will not underestimate the rising Aussie’s ability to deliver in big matches.
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“It’ll be a tough match against Kokkinakis,” Murray said, according to DavisCup.com. “I’ve practised with him and watched him a lot, so I know his game better than I do a lot of the younger guys. He’s a pretty explosive player, but it’ll be a tough one for him as well.”
Tomic, now ranked a career high 23 in the world, will also face a stiff challenge in last-second selection Dan Evans. In their only Tour-level meeting Evans upset Tomic in four sets at the 2013 US Open. “It’s a tough match for me,” said Evans. “It’s going to be a good battle out there.”
Evans was selected based on his run of form at the Challenger and Futures level, which has seen him win 29 of 33. He could be the hero and put Australia in a big hole if he is able to shock Tomic again at Emirates Arena.
Tomic hopes it’s not the case. “For me this match is not easy,” said Tomic. “He’s beaten me before, he has some confidence, and it was—I think—a smart move for them to put Dan Evans in. It’s going to be interesting. I’m very confident, the way I’m playing, but I have to win tomorrow.”
On paper, the likely outcome of Friday’s singles rubbers is a split, with Murray prevailing (despite a stomach bug which hindered him on Wednesday but is reportedly out of his system Thursday) over Kokkinakis, and Tomic prevailing over Evans.
If this is the case it will bring doubles to center stage on Saturday, where Lleyton Hewitt and Sam Groth will be standing by to face Inglot and Murray (though Leon Smith would probably substitute Andy Murray in for Dominic Inglot if Andy is well enough to go).
“It’s been a really good team effort leading into this semifinal,” said Hewitt. “We know it’s going to be a really tough weekend of tennis, but we think we’ve got a team that can pull together and hopefully win the three rubbers we need.”
The Aussies became just the ninth team in World Group history to rally from 2-0 down in the quarterfinals when they defeated Kazakhstan in July. In that tie, youngsters Nick Kyrgios and Thanasi Kokkinakis fell on the first day to put Australia in the hole, forcing Wally Masur to bench the two kids in favor of Lleyton Hewitt and Sam Groth, who engineered the comeback.
With Kyrgios out of the mix, Groth could play a role again on Sunday if either Kokkinakis or Tomic don’t perform up to snuff on Friday. Regardless, he’ll be a part of a huge doubles tilt on Saturday, which could end up producing the critical point of the rubber.
“Any time I get a chance to put on the green and gold and play for Australia, especially for me playing doubles alongside Lleyton who has such a great record in Davis Cup and who has been so great for Australia over the years, for me it’s a huge honor,” Groth said.
Much has been made about the chances of Australia winning the title in Hewitt’s last season, but the Aussie himself has his sights on winning his next rubber and nothing more.
“We haven’t focused on winning it, to tell you the truth,” he said. “It’s been a long time since we got in the World Group and won a World Group match. We had a relatively inexperienced team—it was about trying to give some of the younger boys opportunities to go out there and get that experience of playing in these big matches. Now we’ve fought through, draw’s opened up and we’ve given ourselves a real chance now. But we’ve still got a massive battle on our hands and we’re not looking any further than this tie.”
Belgium vs. Argentina
With 37 combined titles in the other half of the draw, the Argentina-Belgium semifinal has the feel of a dark horse run. Despite the fact that Argentina has reached the Davis Cup World Group semis in 10 of the last 14 years, neither team has ever won the title.
Without big-name stars, this tie promises to be an intriguing grinder, and represents a chance to shine on a giant stage, not just for David Goffin and Leonardo Mayer, but for everyone. Too tough to call, this tie could and probably will go down to the wire.
Belgium has not reached the Davis Cup final since its first year in the competition—1904—while Argentina has famously lost four finals without ever winning the title, the last near miss being 2011.
Goffin will open with Federico Delbonis, a talented player but one who has only won six matches on hard courts in his career.
In the second rubber, Argentina’s Mayer will face Steve Darcis. Mayer is riding a seven-match Davis Cup winning streak which includes a win in the longest Davis Cup singles match of all-time over Brazil’s Joao Souza in March.