Alix Ramsay Shares A Few More Thoughts On This Mess Called Davis Cup Tennis 2019

By 10sballs Staff
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Updated: November 19, 2019

After arriving in Madrid on Friday night, we are now five days into the D-Cup finals. And tonight, on Tuesday, we have watched our first tennis points. Woo-hoo.

Alas, we have watched them on Eurosport at home in our digs (no disrespect to Eurosport – we are listening to a fellow Liverpool super-fan, Barry Cowan, doing commentary…respect, my fellow Red, respect). Not watching on site, not on court….at home on TV. Sigh.

In a shock development, the centre court has lots of bums on seats because Spain (for which read Rafa) is playing Russia. The evening did not start well for the hosts as Andrey Rublev, the same Andrey Rublev who could not win a second service point in the third set, demolished Roberto Bautista Agut in the deciding tiebreak. Mullered him. Russia lead 1-0.

Spain’s brass band is making its presence felt. Spain is depending on Rafa against Karen Khachanov. As Rafa said as he walked on court: “now we need the crowd”. And they will respond.

Sadly, not many other teams have “the crowd”. As France beat Japan, there was barely a soul watching. And France and the Davis Cup are like chips (or if you are not from my homeland, fries) and ketchup, bacon and buttie, Liverpool and the Champions League….it’s meant to be. But not this year despite the fact that France are the favourites and top seeds.

As we speak, Rafa is leading. But there are other ties going on, all of them hugely important. As we type this, Denis Shapovalov is leading Taylor Fritz by a set and a break; the Australians have secured a 2-0 lead over Colombia thanks to Alex De Minaur. What that means in the general scheme of things, we have no idea: it is not apparent on the website and we have long-since given up on the app. Someone will tells us eventually. Maybe.

In the meantime, my work is done for the day and I am going to sit back and watch Rafa v Karen. Oh, hang on, Eurosport (not the D-Cup app, not Kosmos, not anyone from the tournament website) is telling us that Canada are the first team through to the quarters. Good on Shapo. Canada’s first win over the USA in 16 meetings, according to TV. No stats on the website (natch). If only we knew how this happened.

Right…. Back to Rafa and Karen…. Raf has just won the first set. See you tomorrow. And if anyone has any ideas about who is doing what to whom, please let us know. We are on site and we don’t have a Scooby.

Nite nite one and all….