Mr Ed spends most of this week's column refecting on Davis Cup, present and future, before bidding farewell to a player he had thought retired long ago.
Davis Cup final dramatics
The big action this week has been taking place in Melbourne, host city of the Australia-France Davis Cup final. As of this writing, France holds a surprising 2-1 lead.
Most observers thought that new number one Lleyton Hewitt, fresh from his U.S. Open and Masters Cup successes, would once again be the main man for Australia, while sore-armed veteran Pat Rafter might be the weak link. However, on the first day Hewitt was unable to deal with the serve-volley pressure of Nicolas Escudé on grass for the second time this year (Hewitt had also fallen to Escudé at Wimbledon). The skeletal Frenchman, more solid on the big points, prevailed again, 4-6, 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4. Th
en Rafter, showing no signs of his well-publicized arm and shoulder miseries, confidently controlled the proceedings against the French #1, Sébastien Grosjean, sweeping to a 6-3, 7-6, 7-5 triumph.
With the final tied at 1-1, the doubles point became as crucial as it usually is. Since 1977, every final had been won by the nation that took the doubles point. Australian captain John Fitzgerald, who has never been totally convinced by the announced doubles tandem of Wayne Arthurs & Todd Woodbrige, made a last-minute switch and placed his stars, Hewitt and Rafter, into doubles duty. The French were represented by their customary doubles pair of Cédric Pioline and Fabrice Santoro, and survived a shaky
start by veteran Pioline, finally riding the brilliant and canny wizardry of Fabrice Santoro to a 2-6, 6-3, 7-6 (7-5), 6-1 win and a crucial 2-1 lead.
It would be easy to say that choosing the singles stars was a risky move by Fitzgerald that backfired, but we don't know that Arthurs/Woodbridge would have fared any better against the excellent play of the French. In fact, few in the Aussie camp would have been totally comfortable seeing the announced team on court. Arthurs/Woodbridge were shocked in the first round by an upset defeat at the hands of the Lapentti brothers of Ecuador, and in the semifinals they looked shaky in eking out a narrow win over
a makeshift Swedish duo composed of Jonas Bjorkman/Magnus Larsson. One sensed that Fitzgerald's mind was long since made up that unless his squad was up 2-0, he would ask for double duty from his two singles stars.
So the stage is set for the final day. If Australia is to win, it will have to be Patrick Rafter providing the clinching point in the fifth rubber. Rafter, who might be playing his final professional event this week, would dearly love to hold the "salad bowl" aloft for the first time in his career. Dramatics are guaranteed!
Captaincy changes in the World Group
Two of the nations in the 16-member World Group of Davis Cup next year will be led by new faces. Well, sort of!
Germany has woefully underachieved in Davis Cup in recent years despite the presence of talented singles players Tommy Haas and Nicolas Kiefer as well as doubles ace David Prinosil. In October the German federation replaced Carl-Uwe Steeb as captain with former Wimbledon champion Michael Stich.
Stich's main task in the off-season will be to convince Tommy Haas, the top German player and ranked #8 in the world, to play Davis Cup. Haas intimated this year that he may skip Davis Cup in order to concentrate in his singles goals. Clearly, the loss of Haas, who has been a much more reliable Davis Cup performer than Kiefer, would be a fatal blow to the Germans. Germany's first round opponent next year will be Goran Ivanisevic's Croatia, freshly promoted from the second division. Ironically, Croatia i
s captained by Niki Pilic, who was the German captain when Stich savoured a Davis Cup championship in 1993.
The Swiss will also be led by a new captain, more or less. Jakob Hlasek, whose days had been numbered after a very public row with his star player Roger Federer, was replaced by a gentleman named Peter Carter. If you're thinking that Peter Carter is not a typically Swiss name, you're right: he is an Australian.
Carter has been living and coaching in Basel since late 1993, and in fact worked with Federer earlier in his career. Settling into his adopted country, the transplanted Aussie married a Basel woman earlier this year. However, he is not a Swiss citizen, and the International Tennis Federation (ITF) requires that the Davis captain be a citizen of the nation he represents. Switzerland has notoriously stringent citizenship laws, and, unlike many countries, one cannot automatically gain Swiss nationality by
marrying a local. There is a 10-year residency requirement in Switzerland, which means that Carter will not be able to ascend to captaincy until 2004.
We expect that the Swiss will name a figurehead captain, and that the real decisions will be made by Carter until he can officially assume the role. That is, unless he gets fired first!
Paulus retires
It was with surprise that we read in the Austrian Web site Vorarlberg Online that Austrian player Barbara Paulus retired last week. We had assumed that the former world #10 had retired long ago, since she had not played a competitive match since the 1998 U.S. Open. Fighting constant elbow problems, the tall, elegant baseliner has not been seen on a court since.
Still, it seems that Paulus was hoping to make a comeback this year. Vorarlberg reports that she had gone to Florida to train early this year in view of a return to the tour, but the elbow problems flared up again and spoiled the Austrian's plans.
Barbara Paulus says she has not given much reflection to her post-tennis plans. "I haven't thought much about it. I will certainly not become a coach. I am enjoying my free time now." We wish the 31-year-old happiness in the years to come.