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Tuesday, January 29 Updated: January 31, 3:40 PM ET Henman, Rusedski to take on Sweden ESPN.com news services |
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Tim Henman and Greg Rusedski will lead Britain's team in February's Davis Cup tie against Sweden.
Britain's Davis Cup captain Roger Taylor also named Martin Lee and Jamie Delgado for the World Group first-round tie, which will take place in Birmingham from Feb. 8-10. Last year, Henman and Rusedski, now ranked 11 and 30 respectively in the world, defeated Ecuador 4-1 in a qualifying tie to gain them promotion back into the World Group. "Tim and Greg had an excellent year for us in the Davis Cup last year and it is really encouraging to see Martin now just two places off a top 100 place in the men's rankings," Taylor was quoted as saying on the BBC website. "Jamie was very close to a call-up for the Ecuador tie and he deserves this opportunity. Jamie has been training hard and is ranked fourth in the country in singles and doubles." Delgado is ranked 148 in the world.
Sweden "We are travelling to Birmingham to win," Swedish Davis Cup captain Carl-Axel Hageskog said in a statement. Hageskog also named Thomas Enqvist, Jonas Bjorkman and Magnus Larsson for the tie to be played from Feb. 8-10. Larsson earned a place in the squad when Andreas Vinciguerra, the captain's preferred choice as the fourth player, pulled out with a broken finger. Bjorkman, widely regarded as one of the world's best doubles players, beat British No. 1 Tim Henman in the fourth round of the Australian Open in Melbourne earlier this month. That triumph, Hageskog said at the time, will give Sweden an important psychological advantage in the Davis Cup tie.
The Netherlands Otherwise, Bogtstra left his squad unchanged from that which lost to France in the semifinals last year, with Paul Haarhuis, Sjeng Schalken and Raemon Sluiter also included. It is expected Schalken and Sluiter will play the singles, with Haarhuis/Schalken playing doubles when the Dutch face France in Metz from Feb. 8-10. The French team has decided to play on a clay court, similar to that of Roland Garros, which prompted Bogtstra to favor Kempes over Siemerink, who prefers faster surfaces. In 2001, the Dutch reached the Davis Cup semifinals for the first time and were beaten 3-2 by France, which went on to beat Australia in the final.
France
Spain Juan Carlos Ferrero, Alex Corretja, Albert Costa and Juan Balcells were named by the three-man coaching team for the Feb. 8-10 match in Zaragoza. The return of Costa, which comes at the expense of Carlos Moya, is the only change from the team for the last two ties, a defeat to the Netherlands in the first round in 2001 and victory over Uzbekistan in the playoff to stay in the World Group. "We wanted to recapture the spirit of the champion team," said captain Juan Avendano at a Barcelona news conference to announce the team. Ferrero missed the Australian Open because of a knee injury but the coaching team of Avendano, Josep Perlas and Jordi Arrese said they expected him to prove his fitness on his return to competition in Milan later this month.
Australia Andrew Ilie, Scott Draper, Wayne Arthurs and Todd Woodbridge were named as the four-man squad which will take on Argentina in the Feb. 8-10 tie. Ilie and Draper, ranked 67 and 218 respectively, will be making their Davis cup debuts in the absence of Hewitt and former world No. 1 Pat Rafter, who is taking an indefinite break from tennis. Peter Luczak, 22, will travel with the team as a fifth squad member and hitting partner after winning an award as the most outstanding player on the recently-completed Australian satellite tour.
Russia Russian captain Shamil Tarpishchev named a five-man squad, with Safin and Yevgeny Kafelnikov playing singles on the red clay of Moscow's Olympiisky Sports Complex on Feb. 8-10. Teenager Mikhail Yuzhny and Davis Cup newcomers Andrei Stolyarov and Denis Golovanov round out the Russian squad. Tarpishchev said Russia chose clay over a faster carpet surface because it better suited Safin and Kafelnikov. "I think the key to this tie will be which team has more time to practice on clay, and therefore can better adjust to a slow surface," Tarpishchev said. "Both Safin and Kafelnikov were scheduled to play this week in Milan but have decided to pull out of the indoor tournament in order to have more clay-court preparation instead. "Kafelnikov came to Moscow on Saturday and he already had a good workout this morning while Safin arrives on Tuesday." Tarpishchev said he counted on Safin to be at his best despite a disappointing loss in Sunday's Australian Open final to Sweden's Thomas Johansson at Melbourne Park. A huge favorite to win his second grand slam title Safin, who turned 22 on Sunday, was stunned by the Swede in four sets on the hard Rebound Ace surface. "I don't think he (Safin) should look down on himself following Sunday's loss," Tarpishchev said. "He is in fine form at the moment and this defeat should help him in the long run. It will be an extra incentive for him to achieve a lot more, to finally show all his potential. He will only need a day or two of rest and to acclimatize himself to a different climate and time zone."
Germany Haas underlined his brilliant form by knocking out former world number one Marcelo Rios to reach the Australian Open semifinals on Wednesday. "Tommy is clearly the number one in the team if he stays fit," Stich said after Haas reached the semifinals at the Australian Open earlier this month. "He will have one week to recover after the Australian Open and then we will see how he feels," Stich, who will start his career as Germany's captain in the Zagreb tie from Feb. 8-10, told German television channel ARD. "My ideal doubles pair is Tommy Haas and David Prinosil but I might think twice if Tommy has to play five sets in his opening singles match." Haas had threatened not to play Davis Cup this year because he wanted to concentrate on his own career but has since changed his mind. Stich, meanwhile, said he was still hesitating between Rainer Schuettler and Nicolas Kiefer as his second singles player. "Rainer has certainly played well over the past six months but what happens in the week before the tie will be decisive," he said. Wimbledon champion Goran Ivanisevic and Ivan Ljubicic are lined up to play singles for Croatia. |
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