pss@nvuxb.UUCP (P.Schroeder) (11/15/85)
>Allan McKillop >now that i brought up the subject of ashe and the Davis Cup, i think this >would be a good new topic. what do people think about (1) the code thing, >(2) the way the whole incident was handled and (3) the recent selections >for the US Davis Cup team. I think Georgia-Pacific (or whatever the >name of the company is) should be dumped. the Davis Cupis bigger >than any one company. I think ashe blew it by not taking a firm stand >one way or the other. he voiced support for mcenroe and connors, but >ended up going for the code. and why did we use Aaron Krickstein and >Eliot Telscher for singles? both Curren and Kriek were FAR about these >two on the ATP computer. I feel that the code was a mistake and that the USTA was bullied by Georgia-Pacific in this matter. However, there is no mistaking the fact that McEnroe and Connors often behave badly both on-court and off (i.e., interviews, etc.). Georgia-Pacific and the USTA claimed that the team represents the U.S. and should conform to the code. Well, in reality, the Davis Cup team is a group of paid professionals, not an Olympic-type team. What this boils down to is the same old question of how do you discipline players for bad behaviour? I think that the present penalty system IF INVOKED can be effective. However, even in Davis Cup ties, where no tournament promotor is involved, bad behaviour has been tolerated. A player will tend to behave during Davis Cup the same way as during the rest of the tournament schedule. If the penalty system is enforced properly and consistently, players like McEnroe and Connors will have to clean up their act. In addition, the fine system should be tougher which would apply longer and/or more frequent suspensions for fine accumulations. With regard to the choices of Krickstein and Teltscher over Curren and Kriek, the court surface was a major consideration in the tie with West Germany. That tie was played on slow red European clay, a surface on which neither Curren nor Kriek play well. With the decline of Arias and the unavailability of McEnroe and Connors, Krickstein and Teltscher were probably the best choices. By the way, Teltscher's behaviour during the West German tie was nothing to be proud of either.
cccallan@ucdavis.UUCP (Allan McKillop) (11/18/85)
> > With regard to the choices of Krickstein and Teltscher over Curren and Kriek, > the court surface was a major consideration in the tie with West Germany. > That tie was played on slow red European clay, a surface on which neither Curren > nor Kriek play well. With the decline of Arias and the unavailability of > McEnroe and Connors, Krickstein and Teltscher were probably the best choices. > By the way, Teltscher's behaviour during the West German tie was nothing to > be proud of either. sorry, i still don't buy krickstein as a good choice for the team. his record was very poor this year, and he was not a proven davis cup player. let's face it, he cost the US the tie with his play against westphael. he choked and lost to a player he shouldn't have. at least curren and kriek have played in pressure situations before. the object of any davis cup tie should be to win. in my mind, the united states should have won two singles (over westphael) and the doubles. that means putting in players who have experience in pressure matches they are expected to win. throw away the matches against becker, they are unimportant. i don't think ashe did a very good job of coaching during the tie, and i think the US's lost is directly related to the poor job he did. yes, teltscher did behave rather badly, didn't he. i seem to remember he made a few choice comments to leslie allen during the french open mixed doubles final a couple years ago, and one of the reporters there said that if he (the reporter) had said some of those things to his girlfriend, he would have gotten slapped. i do think it is interesting that the tie with the west germans showed up the lack of depth in the US men. the other choices were: curren, kriek, mayotte, davis, gilbert or even good ol' vitas "i snort the nose" geruliatis. hardly contenders for number one in the near future. so where is the US men's game going? what will happen when mcenroe and connors are gone? the US will be hard pressed to have a top ten player, let alone a top five or number one. will we see another player like mcenroe burst out of the ranks of being a "good" junior player to being a great professional player? any thought? -- Allan McKillop (...ucbvax!ucdavis!deneb!cccallan) "Where there's a will, there's a relative..."
pss@nvuxb.UUCP (P.Schroeder) (11/22/85)
>Mike Cherepov >Well, it looks like this time the Germans' luck will run out. >Despite of playing the Davis Cup final at home on a very fast >surface, they appear to be outclassed by the Swedes. >The second man on the German team would be either Westphal or >Schwaier or Maurer. Hardly an opponent for Edberg or Jarryd. >Wilander's mastery of artificial surfaces and indoor courts >might be questionable, but he's not a poor performer on a >fast court, and , besides is having a pretty good year. >I would also pick the Swedes in doubles, whether Jarryd plays >with Edberg or Wilander. They play and practice together often >and have had huge success. The friendly crowd is not enough >for Becker-Maurer. >Then, of course, there is the miracle man Boris, who can always >threaten to win both of his matches. But it looks much harder >then whipping Mecir, Smid, Krickstein and Teltscher. Some top >talent is coming. I am pulling for Sweden to win as I like all their players, especially Wilander. However, despite Sweden's depth, the German's have a great chance to win because of the fast surface. Becker has to be heavily favoured to win both of his singles matches with his big serve and overall power. Sweden will be heavily favoured to win the other singles, regardless of who plays for either side. In essence, it could all come down to the doubles. Right now, there is considerable speculation as to the make-up of Sweden's team; the likely possibilities include: (1) Wilander and Nystrom in singles, and Jarryd/Edberg in doubles, (2) Jarryd and Edberg in singles, and Wilander/Nystrom in doubles. I don't think the probability of using either Wilander, Jarryd, or Edberg in both singles and doubles is very high. Jarryd and Edberg have had more recent success on fast indoor surfaces in both singles and doubles than Wilander and Nystrom. For that reason, I lean towards the idea that option (1) above will be chosen since it would give Sweden the best chance of winning the doubles; Wilander and Nystrom would both be favoured to win their singles against Germany's 2nd singles player, most likely either Westphal or Maurer (Schwaier is mainly a clay court player). The Australian Open results will no doubt weigh heavily in Sweden's final decision for their line-up. >Not having cable tv is really breaking my heart: I miss Aus. Open and >Cup. Davis Cup should be pretty interesting no matter who wins, >Australian should be very good because several players, men and >women have a shot at the top ranking for the year. While ESPN will carry the semi-finals and finals of the Australian Open, I don't think they will televise the Davis Cup final. Their position in the past has been that unless the U.S. is playing, they won't cover Davis Cup competition. >Martina should win this time. I agree. >I pick McEnroe who got re-dedicated(at least verbally): McEnroe's not 100% right now, and I don't think he has changed his training practices (or lack thereof). >Lendl is not a grass man, Not his best surface to be sure, but his net game has improved. He's got everything else to win. >Becker has had his share of good grass fortune, No reason why he shouldn't do well again. His game is well suited to grass. >Wilander is not the best grass-court player in the world, True, but he's won the tournament the past two years while beating Lendl, McEnroe, and Curren among other good grass court players. >Curren hasn't been too steady lately...... Curren has been in the finals of both the last Australian Open and Wimbledon on grass; however, I agree that he hasn't done much otherwise. >Connors..., you know... (is he playing there anyway?) Connors will not be there. Per a previous posting, I pick Lendl to win.