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Daily Dispatch: Czech Republic, Spain Poised to Make Davis Cup Finals

16 September, 2012

The doubles team of Tomas Berdych and Radek Stepanek beat Carlos Berlocq and Eduardo Schwank in straight sets, giving the Czech Republic a commanding 2-1 lead in their Davis Cup tie against Argentina.

After the loss, Argentinian Davis Cup captain Martin Jaite announced that Juan Martin del Potro would not be able to play his scheduled match tomorrow against Berdych due to his left wrist injury. Given del Potro’s injury history, the right decision was made, but it’s unclear if del Potro did further damage to his wrist playing his first match agains doctor’s orders.

The Czech team had little sympathy for del Potro. Stepanek, who played doubles with del Potro last year, accused him of gamesmanship after losing his first singles match on Friday. Today, Berdych joined the criticism.

“I don’t care about Juan Martin, he can take care about himself,” Berdych reportedly said.

The Bryan brothers kept the United States alive against Spain, beating Marcel Granollers and Marc Lopez in four sets, but John Isner and Sam Querrey will face an uphill battle on Sunday against the sturdy David Ferrer and Nicolas Almagro, Spain only needing to win one of those matches to advance to the Davis Cup finals.

An amusing anecdote from the Netherlands: according to Rene Stauffer, the doubles team of Roger Federer and Stan Wawrinka were so desperate in the third set of their match, they switched sides.

The “Fedwrinka” doubles team is 1-4 in their last five matches, including Davis Cup matches and the 2012 Olympics. Time to change things up?

According to DNAIndia.com, the All India Tennis Association (AITA) banned Indian tennis players Mahesh Bhupathi and Rohan Bopanna for two years from representing India at Davis Cup. (The ban does not apply to ATP tournaments)

Colette Lewis wrote a well-reasoned piece about Taylor Townsend’s situation with the USTA. As one of the best reporters on junior tennis, she has a unique perspective, having followed Townsend’s career more closely than the other reporters who have written about the situation.

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