It’s been a common complaint that Davis Cup is a pain because it’s played 4 times throughout the year, usually after a Slam or the last event of the year, and players have to sacrifice to play.
Recently, Andy Roddick decided he did not make himself available for 2010. He had been told that the potential change of surfaces might be bad for his knees, and at this late stage in his career, he wanted to continue to give himself chances to vy for Slams.
However, the Davis Cup isn’t the only tournament that features a team format.
Although the Hopman Cup is an exhibition, it does reasonably well attracting decent, if not always outstanding, players. This year, the feature team was Great Britain. Not only because Andy Murray the top player, by far, playing in the Hopman Cup, but because he was paired with Laura Robson, the 15 year old sensation from Britain. Although Melanie Oudin has gotten more press, primarily due to her semifinal appearance at last year’s US Open, it may be that the lefty, Robson has more “upside” in her game.
Unlike the fist-pumping Oudin, Robson seems quite a bit shyer. Despite her diffidence, Robson’s game has some oomph to it. At this point, better players are still able to bully her around some, and she’s missing a few too many shots. However, if she starts to control those shots, she may make that leap that will make British fans giggle in delight.
Thoughout the Hopman Cup competition, it had been Andy Murray that had been called to do the heavy lifting for the team. Robson is ranked in the 400s, and although her actual play would probably easily put her in the top 100, she’s not officially there yet.
So it came as something of a surprise when Laura Robson faced Spain’s Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez, ranked 26 in the world, and came out victor. Robson came out blazing in the first set and took it 6-1. She fell behind a break, but broke back and forced a tiebreak, where she rushed to a 6-2 lead, only to find Martinez Sanchez playing 4 aggressive points to tie it up. At 6-all, Robson was forced to her left, and hit a brilliant up-the-line forehand that nipped the line. At 7-6 up, Robson took a fairly vanilla rally, and a shot up the middle high to her backhand and whipped it with angle to win the point and take her first singles victory of the week.
At this point, surely Andy Murray would seal the deal over Tommy Robredo. Although Murray has split matches 2-2 with Robredo, the two losses came in 2006 and 2007 before Murray had improved to where he is now. Murray has beaten Robredo the last two times they’ve met.
Although the match started off tight, Murray ran off with the first set, 6-1, and a UK victory seemed sure. Robredo, for his part, just wanted to stay in the match. In the second set, Robredo started to find range with his big forehand which he’d hit inside out with angle. In addition, Robredo was starting to attack Murray’s second serve. Murray was having some issues with a muscle pull as well and it seemed to affect the crispness of his shots. Robredo would continue to hit hard and force Murray to run and take the next two sets 6-4 and 6-3.
This lead to the mixed doubles serving as the tiebreak. Most of the times, people don’t care about mixed doubles, but in this format, where the women play first, then the men, then the mixed, and with one player potentially much weaker than their partner, the mixed becomes a big deal. UK got here primarily on big wins in the mixed doubles.
This is one situation where the choice of Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez helped. Martinez Sanchez plays a great deal of doubles and has pretty good hands at net. Although the Brits had chances up set points in the first set, the Spaniards played tough and took the first set. A key to Spain’s victory where crosscourt exchanges between Robredo and Robson. Robredo would hit inside out forehands (righty) to Robson’s lefty forehand. She did pretty well trying to keep in those rallies, but Robredo can create amazing angles and hit with pace, and if she didn’t do a good enough job, Martinez Sanchez would poach. Or when Robson was exchanging rallies with Martinez Sanchez, Robredo would perch practically over the net to take the poach.
Meanwhile, Murray found it incredibly difficult to poach with the angles generated. He would have literally had to stand on get close to the opposite sideline to make a volley and leave his half of the court empty. Announcers had suggested they use the I formation to mix things up, but they never did that.
Although the Brits lost, it seemed like a good exhibition for Robson who got to hit with lots of top women and even some top men. Playing a lot of mixed seems to have helped her net game.
Murray has to be thinking again. He had a 6-1 lead, only to find himself scrambling to deal with the power of Robredo. Murray’s weaknesses are familiar. If you can hit hard and steady, you can potentially overpower Murray. Murray tends to use his great speed and anticipation to goad opponents to hitting better shots than they are used to, but more players seem up to that challenge.
Murray seems to have improved his first serve. He’s hitting more aces lately. However, his second serve still seems to be attackable. It’s always been a stroke that has given opponent openings to play him.
In any case, there’s one more week prior to the Australian Open. Two players of note have yet to make an appearance: Novak Djokovic and Juan Martin del Potro. We’ll see if either plays next week.
