By Benjamin Snyder
Good job, team America. Andy “The Closer” Roddick pulled through against Chile under the guidance of new Davis Cup captain Jim “The Rock” Courier. And a new American frat squad has been born.
The real story, however, lies in the following five moments that mattered most. Sorry, Judy Murray, this weekend’s high intensity was a far cry from your beef with a future tie being in “Eazzzztbourne.”
Step aside Gilles, you aren’t French Davis Cup’s winner this week — actually far from it. Instead, Jeremy Chardy came out on top (and without drama), winning the deciding fifth match against Austria’s Martin Fischer 2-6, 7-6(4), 6-3, 6-3. Chardy can now say he not only helped France advance (although Tsonga, Monfils and Gasquet had to be hurt to give him the chance) but he also won in an airplane hangar: number three to be exact.
How about some Serbian success? Ilija Bozoljac, who tested Federer at Wimbledon last year, backed up his funky game — he plays two-handed on both wings — with a big win in a four-set doubles thriller against India with partner Nenad Zimonjic. Plus, he looked really good doing it.
Seriously, we can’t make this stuff up. (via ilija-bozoljac.net)
While the Serbian champs are on track, there’s some new talent on the horizon, too. Kazakhstan ousted the 2009 runner-up Czech Republic with fine form from Andrey Golubev and Mikhail Kukushkin. Golubev played the role of giant-killer in his singles match, beating Wimbledon finalist Tomas Berdych 7-5, 5-7, 6-4, 6-2. Khazakstan’s reward for the upset? Getting their hotel rooms robbed.
Speaking of robbed, Ivo Karlovic took away tons of time from his opponents with a big, booming, record-breaking serve. He beat Andyís 2004 record serve speed by a mile with a 156 mph bomb against Germany — although he went on to lose the match with partner Ivan Dodig.
Finally, while it’s not much of a moment per se, here’s a fashion faux-pas we couldn’t help but point out. Russian Davis Cup left everything hanging both on and off the court, literally. Just check out the very revealing stretchy, red outfits they wore versus Sweden. Y-u-m?
(russian davis cup photo via getty images)
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