Argentina-South America’s first to win
View(s):Juan del-Potro’s Davis-Cup
Argentina had and has great Tennis players. It is one of the countries which had Tennis as an elite sport for over a hundred years. Among the Argentinean men, Guillermo Vilas, Jose Luis Clerc and David Nalbandian, and Gabriella Sabatini among women, dominated the world Tennis in the last quarter of the 20th century. The two countries which were potential contenders to win the Davis-Cup from South America were Argentina and Brazil. Somehow it did not happen till now.
Argentina’s Juan Martin Del Potro, former Top 10 player, currently 38 in the world, was 2 Sets down against world No.6 Marin Cilic, then decided enough is enough in Zagreb, in their Day 3, Davis-Cup final reverse Singles against Croatia last weekend. Argentina has never lost and has a record of 4-0 in their favour against Croatia. In one of the great comeback matches in Davis-Cup history Del Potro beat Cilic in 5 Sets, in the presence of a large contingent of Argentinean supporters which included their Football legend Diego Maradona. For Del Potro, 2016 has been the comeback year after two years of his prime were lost with injuries, and his ranking sank below 500. In 2016, he has shown the ‘class’ for which he is known for and, in this Davis-Cup tie, he immortalised his name in South American sport.
Juan Martin Del Potro
The tall Del Potro is famous for his signature Forehand, Service aces, punishing return of serve and his personality trait of enduring capacity to turn a match in his favour, from the most hopeless situations. These are exactly what he did in Zagreb to beat Cilic. Cilic fresh from ATP masters in London, was on top of Del Potro after the 2nd Set and the 3rd Set looked like the last rights to finish the match and bag the Davis-Cup for Croatia again. For Del Potro this is when the match began. Sounds absurd but, this is exactly what happened. Del Potro made Cilic play 11, 12 and the 13 Set of the tie on Day 3. Cilic could not sustain this strain at that level. Del Potro’s win made the title tie in Zagreb ‘open’, after being hopelessly close at 5the end of Day 2, when Croatia led 2-1 after the Doubles.
Maturity of Delbonis
After Del Potro’s great performance the scores were level, and Federico Delbonis had to tackle Croatian Karlovic ranked 20 above him in the world. The 26-year-old Delbonis is 6 ft 3 ins. in height and weighs close to 200 lbs. More than Karlovic’s world class Tennis on home ground, Delbonis had to tackle the burden of carrying weight of the ‘decider’ on his shoulder. It will not be only for the 2016 tie but that of the ‘history’. On Day 1 of the tie, Delbonis lost to Cilic in 5 Sets, but took much Cilic’s sap away that paid dividends on the final day. On the final day, once again he contributed to the Argentinean win with a straight Sets win against Karlovic. Players, officials and Argentinean fans rolled over him on the baseline after the last shot was played.
Formula for Davis Cup
The Davis Cup is an ITF event and is over a hundred years old. There are some formulas to win this coveted Cup which is considered to be the ‘World Cup’ of Tennis. Less than 15 countries have ever won this symbol of ‘Tennis supremacy’ up to now, in its 116-year history.
Davis Cup is played in ascending tiers where promotion takes place annually. For a team to get to the ‘World Group’ the team should have players in the Top 50 of the world rankings. In this evaluation, on paper, Croatia had Cilic at 6 and Ivo Karlovic, the man with the highest Service aces in recent history of the game, was at 20. Argentina had Del Potro at 38 and Fedrico Delbonis at 41. On paper, Croatia was the better team.
Over the years the winning formula for a Davis Cup tie has been worked out to a few team compositions. First, to have two good Singles players who can win 3 of the total of 4 Singles matches. Second, to have one good Singles player and a good Doubles combination, to bag the 3 wins that gives the tie. Apart from these, the only other possibility is when a player rises to the occasion, which has happened a good few times.
Davis Cup’s Future
The attraction of the Davis Cup has suffered badly in the last decade. It was more lustrous before the domination of the professional bodies WTA and ATP. The cause of Davis-Cup’s lesser appeal is not really the event itself but, the strain players endure in the professional circuit. Most of the Top 20 did not sign up to be in their national Davis Cup team this year, because of the pressure of the professional circuit. It is just too much even for the young men in their prime to accommodate a back-to-back 10-month schedule, without breaking down physically and mentally.
At last, South America has managed to take the Davis Cup to its continent. Argentina’s win and the personalities of Del Potro and Delbonis will echo in South America’s sports history for years to come.
-George Paldano, Former intl. player; Accredited Coach of Germany; National, Davis-Cup, Federation Cup captain/coach– georgepaldano@yahoo.com