The Bull and the Matador

"SQL" Querrey managed to get more than three blinks. He got a set and 2-0 up before his disembodied head rolled to a stop on the dusty clay of the Las Ventas Bullring. Not bad - he certainly impressed this skeptic. Somehow thesmallspot got some misinformation on Friday, thinking that Roddick vs. Nadal was going to be the first match up. Not to worry, we've fired our whole QA department over the weekend and are bringing in some top-notch fact checkers.

Anyway, back to the USA-Spain Davis Cup semifinal. On Friday, Roddick lost a heart breaker to Ferrer, 8-6 in the 5th. The tie was effectively over at this point, but Mardy Fish and Mike Bryan played a great match to salvage the doubles, and Sunday brought us the marquee match up. Current #1 vs. Former #1. Rafa Nadal and Andy Roddick. There was a sense that Roddick could turn a miracle here; Rafa was tired from a long year, maybe Andy could ambush him, and with the decisive rubber coming up, who knew what Sam Querrey could do?

From the start Roddick had a game plan and was committed to it; he knew he didn't have a prayer of trying to out-rally Nadal from the baseline, so he attacked the net at every opportunity. Taking a page from Querrey's moderately successful strategy, Roddick served out wide to Rafa and followed the ball in to the net. I'm still amazed at how well top pros return Roddick's serve, even on clay. I mean, that sucker is coming in at 140mph! But that was Rafa, putting balls back into play from deep behind the baseline. Roddick showed some good hands and improvisation, massaging some drop volleys over the net and slicing others deep. Nadal has world-class speed though, and caught up to balls that looked surely out of reach, banging them down the line for winners. You could see PMac urge Roddick to continue attacking; he probably told Roddick that if he didn't get passed 20 times, he wasn't coming in enough. Roddick's serve bailed him out and he continued to hold. In one return game, Roddick ripped a backhand up the line off a second serve from Nadal and followed it in. It was a Big Boy play, and I was impressed to see Roddick come up with it. But Nadal scrambled to his left and ripped an even more impressive forehand pass up the line that Roddick couldn't even touch; it seemed to be a sign. Nadal started catching up to more of Roddick's volleys and found the range on his passing shots. He broke soon after and secured the 1st set, 6-4.

In the buildup for the second set the commentators, Leif Shiras and Barry McKay, talked about how despite the setbacks, Roddick needed to continue attacking. They trotted out the bullfighter analogy for the 2^9592065 time. Really, though, that was just confusing. Is Roddick the Bull, or is he the Matador? I mean, doesn't Rafa have to be the Bull? He even has a bull branded on his tennis shoes! Yet Roddick is the one pawing the clay and charging the net, only to be bamboozled at the last second by a Rafa passing shot. And really, I've had just about enough of Barry McKay. The dude sounds like he's hunched over an In n Out double-double, muttering "mmph...it's good." anytime a ball goes remotely near the line. We ALL know it's in Barry. That's why the linesman hasn't said anything and the players continue to chase after the ball. Tennis Channel, if you want to be taken seriously, you're going to have to shell out for some higher-quality talent. Leif Shiras is a good start; Barry McKay needs some serious coaching to stay and Doug Adler just has to go.

Watching this match, you get a sense of the conversation Roddick and Patrick McEnroe might have had as they were strategizing. "So Andy," Patrick might have started, "you have a phenomenal serve, mediocre volleys and solid if unspectacular approach shots. What about attacking all day and putting Nadal under heaps of pressure? Do you think that he has what it takes to come up with tough passing shots all day in the pressure-filled atmosphere of Davis Cup?" The answer to that is an emphatic yes. Nadal annihilated Roddick in the 2nd set, 6-0. He was hitting return winners off Roddick's 1st serve (sursly, how do you do that?!) and missed only a couple of the passing shots he attempted. Roddick backed off the go-for-broke strategy a bit in the 3rd set, and his traditional game plan was only able to get him 4 more games as Nadal wrapped up the 3rd set and the win for Spain, 6-4.

On the other side of the globe, Argentina finished Russia off in a closer-than-I-expected tie, 3-2. Spain will travel to Argentina for the final, to be held Nov 21-23 on fast, indoor carpet. Hard to pick against Nadal right now; this seems to be a year destined by the Fates, even if he is slightly injured (Nadal supposedly almost didn't play Roddick due to an injury in his famous posterior). Argentina will be going for their first Davis Cup championship ever, and the home crowd will be pulling for them like crazy. Who's your pick?