Addition of Tommy Paul to the US Davis Cup team brings more comfort to American tennis fans

@TennisUitgever

Tommy Paul and the newly crowned Australian Open doubles champion Christian Harrison were added to the American Davis Cup team on Monday after the Australian Open. The United States faces Hungary on indoor clay on Saturday and Sunday, February 7-8.

The announcement came to some relief for U.S. Davis Cup fans, as the first team announcement on January 5 did not include any of the top twelve U.S. singles players. Although the two singles players mentioned, Ethan Quinn, then US number 13, and Emilio Nava, then US number 14, have excellent prospects and are playing the best tennis of their young careers, both had never played Davis Cup before, let alone in an away situation. Paul, the US No. 3 player behind top 10 stars Taylor Fritz and Ben Shelton, is ranked 22nd in the world and has significant Davis Cup experience having played in 10 previous matches. He lost to Carlos Alcaraz in the fourth round of the Australian Open on Saturday, January 24.

At first it was a little disheartening to realize that so many American players had seemingly turned down the opportunity to represent their country in this series against a pesky Hungarian team. However, the circumstances of today’s professional tennis environment may explain how this came about.

To consider…

• The deadline for announcing teams for this Davis Cup round is 28 days before Monday of Davis Cup week, according to the ITF. By some observations, this is very far/too far before the matches for a top player to commit to playing a Davis Cup match, as it is played just days after the end of a potentially grueling two-week Australian Open, which is at least half a world away for most Davis Cup sites. In the event of a tie in the “World Group” (this tie is a qualifying round tie), the deadline for naming a team is much closer, namely 10 days before the tie.
• Because this tie was played days after the conclusion of the Australian Open, many of America’s top players could not predict how well they would do in Australia going into this tie. If they go deep into the quarter-finals, semi-finals or finals, they will need recovery time from an exhausting run at a Grand Slam tournament.
• We should not underestimate anyone in the Davis Cup, because as it is said about the Davis Cup, “anything can happen in the Davis Cup”. But in Hungary, with the only top 100 player on the roster for this tie being No. 46-ranked Fabian Marozsan, American players may seem to feel that not all of their top players are needed to get out of this Davis Cup round. This has been the case in many circumstances throughout the history of the Davis Cup for many of the top competing nations, although it has sometimes backfired with painful losses, especially in away matches. Since Davis Cup matches are now best-of-three set matches, the results in these matches can become even more unpredictable.
• Playing on indoor clay is not the best surface for most American players (which is why Hungary chooses to play on it!) and furthermore, for players going from outdoor hard courts in Australia, to indoor clay in Hungary, to indoor hard courts at the ATP event in Dallas the following week, it is not only an extreme change of surface and playing environment, but also a radical journey.

While not prominently and carefully explained in press releases from the USTA or the ITF, team nominations for this specific round, as explained, must take place 28 days before the competition. In addition, up to three nominations can be changed up to one hour before the draw for the tie, the day before the start of the game. This also includes adding any additional players (i.e. a fifth player). Although the USTA’s initial announcement featured just four players — Quinn, Nava and doubles standouts Austin Krajicek and Rajeev Ram — there was some concern about the status of what would have been the weakest U.S. Davis Cup team by ranking in the competition’s history. However, those familiar with the Davis Cup would probably immediately recognize that a fifth player could be added to the team and therefore there was some expectation that a higher ranked and more experienced Davis Cup singles player could be added later. However, there has been precedent for Davis Cup captains to select only four players for a Davis Cup series, perhaps most prominently by then-US Davis Cup captain Mardy Fish in 2022. A public comment or press conference from US Davis Cup captain Bob Bryan around the January 5 team announcement could have allayed some concerns about the status of the team and the possibility of a higher-ranked player being added to the team later. When the U.S. Davis Cup team — or any Davis Cup nation with top star players — doesn’t appoint its top players to play the Davis Cup, it only diminishes the importance of the competition, which, despite the sport’s storied history, has seen its relevance and attention decline in recent years.

In addition to Paul being added to the team, it was announced by the USTA and Bryan that while Harrison was added to the US team, Aries would be dropped from the team. However, no explanation was given for this, whether it was an injury, a team decision or a personal decision by Aries.

To read more about some previous US Davis Cup seasons, check out Randy Walker’s “US Davis Cup Stories” ebook series on Amazon.com’s Kindle here, including the year Bob and Mike Bryan made their Davis Cup debuts in 2003 – US Davis Cup Team Stories – The Bryan Brothers’ Debut in a Season of Change in 2003 https://a.co/d/0gYLdjFl via @Amazon