Davis Cup deciding set USA v GB

[Paris]

175 in the world beats no 45 (who has been no 17) away in the US on clay.

We are sure to lose the doubles (Bryan brothers) but Murray should beat Querry and Ward would have a decent chance against Young.

Win one of those and we are in the qtr finals for the first time since.... who knows!

According to BBC Sport, 1986

Well played James Ward.

 

[Tricky Dicky]

Watched a few mins of Ward playing Querry last night, and he seemed to be getting creamed early on. I was very surprised to see the result this morning, well played. Murrys' back serms to be holding up nicely, he should be able to bring this one home. Makes a change after years in the Davis cup wilderness.

If ths scots vote for devolution, though, we're screwed again.

 

[Paris]

Murray currently on his way to winning what will be the decider against Querrey.

From the BBC live feed - 'Katie B: Jim Courier looks more like Querrey's lawyer than his coach'.

 

[Husty]

Tuned in to watch last 3 games on your advice Downham and glad I did. Beating the Yanks at anything is great, particularly a sport they must invest millions in annually. Got to admit I've never heard of this ward fella, but seemed be pretty ruthless in dispatching his opponent. Future prospect or just the game of his life?

I've got some family over in the states and have played at local clubs in a few different places. The seriousness with which they take it compared to here is just staggering, it's not hard to understand why they are producing top pros so much more frequently than we are.

 

[joeinbrighton]

I've got some family over in the states and have played at local clubs in a few different places. The seriousness with which they take it compared to here is just staggering, it's not hard to understand why they are producing top pros so much more frequently than we are.

Except that they are not, certainly in comparison to years gone by. In the current Davis Cup tie, the 2 US players are Sam Querrey, ranked 49 in the world and Donald Young, ranked 79 in the world. It's a far cry from the 1990s when the USA could have had up to 4 Grand Slam winners to choose from (Sampras, Agassi, Courier, Chang) plus some pretty decent top 20 in the world players in reserve (Martin, Washington, Wheaton, Krickstein). Still better than the UK's production line it's true, but there's not much sign of any tennis prodigies coming through in the men's game in the US. The same is true for some other nations that have previously done well at tennis, Australia for example, while Sweden don't have a single player ranked in the top 500 in the world. I take your point about the seriousness of the game in the respective countries though. I passed Queens Park tennis courts this afternoon and the only court being occupied was by a group of boys having a game of football!

Re: James Ward. He's not really one for the future as he is 27 years old. But he has been around for a few years and his previous career highlight was reaching the semi-finals of the Queens Club grass tournament in 2011. One of the players he beat en route to the semis that year was Sam Querrey, who was actually the defending champion at Queens at the time. That will have played on Querrey's mind no doubt when he went into meltdown the other night. Ward's one of those players that can give anyone a good match on his day, but just doesn't have the consistency which is what separates the top 20 or 30 from the rest. Bit like Dan Evans who reached round 3 in the US Open last year, beating the world number 11 Kei Nishikori along the way.

 

[Guy Fawkes]

Murray looked dreadful towards the the end of the 2nd set and then lost the tie breaker to make it one set all but is now playing much better again and now 3-0 up with 2 breaks in the third

Coverage on the red button

 

[joeinbrighton]

Andy Murray won in 4 sets. Britain in an unassailable lead and so they complete their first victory over the USA since 1935. Italy away in the quarter-finals.

 

[Brixtaan]

Who have Italy got? I can't think of anyone so should we fear them?