Davis Cup II

[SirBloody Idiot]

The draw for the Season II Davis Cup has been made in Geneva with some intriguing World Group ties coming out of the hat.

Serbia, the defending champions, have been drawn against last year's top seeds Argentina for a first round tie to take place in the South American country. Argentina were eliminated in a shocked first round defeat to Chile in Buenos Aires last season, but now boast a French Open semifinalist in their ranks.

The political turmoil in the island of CWLand means that just one of the two nations will compete in their first round fixture and it is a doozy; Spain in Spain. A few of the higher ranked players from both nations have expressed their desire to end Daniel Páez Blanco's domination on clay, and two will get their chance in March.

Also in the bottom half, the Czech Republic do battle with eighth seeds Croatia whilst season I runners up Russia begin in Belgium.

The full draw for the Season II Davis Cup by BNP Paribas World Group is as follows:

SERBIA (s) v ARGENTINA (c)(*)
JAPAN v SWEDEN (s)(c)(*)
UNITED STATES (s)(c)(*) v ROMANIA
SWITZERLAND (c)(*) v CHILE (s)
SPAIN (s)(c)(*) v DR CWLAND
GREAT BRITAIN (c)(*) v AUSTRIA (s)
CROATIA (s)(c)(*) v CZECH REPUBLIC
BELGIUM(c)(*) v RUSSIA(s)

First Round ties to be played on 5-7 March I.Venues to be sent to the ITF by 15 December.

Key
(s) = seeded nation
(c) = choice of ground
(*) = choice of ground decided by lot.

Relevantly for CWLand, the losers in the World Group first round play-off to occur in early February will move into Group I of the Europe/Africa Zone. They will be seeded one, and have a bye to the second round where they face the winner of the South Africa/Denmark tie.

[Samuel_Vimes]

Good stuff.

Two best sides in the bottom half playing off

[SirBloody Idiot]

Should we go playing captains to pick squads and such? Vimes can probably correct me if I'm wrong, but I think playing captains mean you can get squads of five for each tie?

[Samuel_Vimes]

Originally Posted by SirBloody Idiot

Should we go playing captains to pick squads and such? Vimes can probably correct me if I'm wrong, but I think playing captains mean you can get squads of five for each tie?

Unfortunately not.

para 36a of the rules

Each competing Nation shall...nominate...:
- A team of a minimum of three and a maximum of four which shall include the nomination of a playing Captain
(or a team of a minimum of four and a maximum of five which shall include the nomination of a non-playing captain)

Still think it's a good idea though.

[SirBloody Idiot]

No surprises in either camp for Feb. 5 clash

The East-West CWLand rivalry officially kicks off on February 5 as the two nations battle it out for the March 5 tie against Spain in the World Group. East CWLand named a five-man squad from which four will be selected to play in tie in Stedingham. West CWLand, meanwhile, have also chosen a preliminary squad of five for the home tie with Marcuss Deane to act as alternate. All eyes will be on a mouth-watering singles tie between Jefferson Drake of the CWLand Democratic Republic and Sven Oxenstierna of the Federal Republic of CWLand; those with tickets hoping for a meeting similar to that of the fourth round in Nixonstown last season.

EAST CWLAND
Jefferson DRAKE
Martti KORPINEN
Jamee HANCIANU
Jarkko MAXUM
Randy SMELTZ



WEST CWLAND
Rob BOWENBURG
Heath DAVIS
Jojo MUSTARD
Sven OXENSTIERNA
Scotland RIVERS
Alt: Marcuss DEANE

[NUFAN]

Aren't I ranked about Rivers in both Singles and Doubles?

*Fake rage*

[HeathDavisSpeed]

Yeah, but your form sucks, Bowenburg. (neglects to mention that mine's bloody atrocious too)

[NUFAN]

My singles form ain't flash but my doubles form is pretty much awesome. I guess I don't have old faithful beside me though.

Good luck West!

[SirBloody Idiot]

Originally Posted by NUFAN

Aren't I ranked about Rivers in both Singles and Doubles?

*Fake rage*

Hmm... will make it a squad of five, and whoever captains the West can choose who to leave out.

Thinking about it, Rivers is the better singles player ATM but probably is fourth in line there. But I don't want to influence anyone's opinion...

[NUFAN]

Who would have thought complaining would pay off.

No, in all serious Bowenburg is just making up the numbers at the moment, I'll be a decent hitting partner if nothing else.

East are going to be tough to beat, we really need Ox to win both his singles matches, no pressure though Ox!

[Simon]

Hopefully grab the second singles spot for the tie, my win against the Ox in the CW championships should ensure it.

[Mister Wright]

Will be interesting to see who the West go with for the 2nd singles rubber. None of the other players in the squad are in particularly good singles form. Will be an interesting tie.

[SirBloody Idiot]

Worth noting that points are available for the Davis Cup this year (and World Team Champs):

Davis Cup - Points will be awarded cumulatively as one result and fall off at the end of the year
            The points category will be the equivalent of ATP World Tour 500

Singles              Win       Loss      Team    Performance  Wins
                  Per Match  Per Match   Bonus   Bonus       Cumulative
Playoff Round         5         
Playoff Round        10         
1st Round loss                 10
1st Round            40                                        40
1st Round            40                                        80
Quarterfinals        65                                       145
Quarterfinals        65                                       210
Semifinals           70                                       280
Semifinals           70                                       350
Finals               75                                       425
Finals                                     75#                500
Finals               75                            125##      625

#  Team bonus awarded to a singles player who wins 7 live matches in a calendar year and his team wins the competition
## Performance bonus awarded to a singles player who wins 8 live matches in a calendar year
Also: For the first round only, any player who competes in a "live" singles match(es), without a win,
      shall receive 10 ranking points.

Doubles              Win       Loss      Team     Wins
                  Per Match  Per Match   Bonus  Cumulative
Playoff Round        10         
1st Round loss                 10
1st Round            50                           50
Quarterfinals        80                           130
Semifinals           90                           220
Finals               95                           315
                                          35@     350

@ Team bonus awarded to a doubles player who wins 4 matches and his team wins the competition


Special Ranking Rules for Davis Cup (taken from ATP rulebook 2010)
   1) If a player does not compete in the singles of one or more rounds he will receive
      points from the previous round when playing singles at the next tie.
   2) If a player does not compete in singles in either the 1st round or Quarter-final round
      and then plays singles in the Semi-final and Final rounds, he will receive Quarterfinal
      points for his Semi-final match, but will then be eligible for Finals points when
      playing the final.
   3) If a player is a late substitution to the team and was released from another tournament
      that same week, he will not be eligible to earn points for that Davis Cup
      tie. A player only has the opportunity to earn points in one event per week.
   4) If a particular Davis Cup round shows up twice within the 52-week window, the
      best one of those two results will count towards the player’s Davis Cup result. (This
      will come into play when a tie is played earlier in the year compared to the previous      year and both ties fall within the 52-week window.)

[vic_orthdox]

Very proud to make the squad, hopefully I can continue some of my form from late last year and early this season.

[ripper868]

stoked to be on the squad... may place strain on the Maxum/Bowenburg doubles combination relationship....nothing can't solve though