Roddick's Cup runneth over
He wants to relive American dream
PORTLAND, Ore. - He can still hear the cowbells clanging. They were meant to toll for the guys with USA on their jackets. But it didn't work out that way and a happy little Andy Roddick, all of 9 years old, went home from Fort Worth dreaming not of being a cowboy, but of defending his country on a tennis court and winning the Davis Cup.
It was 1992, the last time the United States won the Cup in this country, beating Switzerland in the final, 3-1. Jovial Swiss fans brought their cowbells, but not enough beef in the overachieving pair of Marc Rosset and Jakob Hlasek. "We had one of the best teams ever," said Roddick. "Andre Agassi, Jim Courier, Pete Sampras, John McEnroe. They impressed me so much. I thought, 'I really want to do that someday.' "
That someday could start today in Memorial Coliseum, where No. 6 Roddick leads off as the main man for the US in the best-of-five match series against defending champion Russia. The outcome determines where the 107-year-old crock - the Davis Cup - will spend the next year of its sterling life.
Roddick goes against No. 34 Dmitri Tursunov, the American resident blond who beat him last year in the Moscow semifinal. After that comes No. 13 James Blake and No. 19 Mikhail Youzhny, for a rematch of the Russian's 2006 win. The one sure thing for the home side should be the doubles tomorrow, with the double-barreled Bryan twins - world No. 1 Bob and Mike - set to ravage an undetermined Russian pair. The singles are to be reversed Sunday, although the sly Russian captain, Shamil Tarpishchev, might shuffle his versatile lineup as he did last year, then replacing Youzhny with Tursunov, who clinched over Roddick, suspensefully, 6-3, 6-4, 5-7, 3-6, 17-15.
That was as painful as losses can get, especially since Roddick served for victory at 6-5 in the fifth, and rescued three match points to 12-12. "Davis Cup wins get you higher, the losses lower," he said. Roddick also lost to Marat Safin, the "Headless Horseman," who is Russia's finest whenever he can refasten his head. He chose not to make the trip. Still, Tarpishchev has No. 4 Nikolay Davydenko and sharpshooting No. 33 Igor Andreev on the bench. But Davydenko has been hurt, physically - and frazzled mentally by the constant questioning about his recent motivation, or lack thereof.
Tarpishchev believes two factors give the US an edge, "maybe 30 percent. The absence of Safin and the court surface" - a swift hardcourt beloved by Americans, as opposed to clay in Moscow.
"It is fast," said the stylish shotmaker Youzhny, "but not as fast as we thought it would be. Not too bad."
Though rain is a constant in Portland, the US malady is a Saharan no-Cup dry spell approaching 12 years. Sampras's 1995 tour de force of three wins - two singles plus the doubles (with Todd Martin) - gave the US a 3-2 triumph over Russia in Moscow. That was the most recent victory by an American team.
This US record of unrequited thirst is a portable drought, increased in such places as Croatia, Spain, Czech Republic, Sweden, France, Los Angeles, Boston.
"It's a quest," said Patrick McEnroe, the US captain for a seventh year. "We've worked long and hard to get here. It's just the good luck of the draw to have the final at home."
Roddick, a rookie in 2001, calls it "a journey. To win the Cup would mean as much as my US Open."
"At last at home," said Mike Bryan. "About time, with the people on our side." Not like the two finals during the drought: one-sided beatings by Sweden in 1997 and Spain in 2004.
There's a feeling of now or never about the Americans. The pressure's on them, the great expectations of a full-house crowd of 12,000 as well as tennis addicts across the land. I think they'll make it 3-2, but the Russians are capable. Davis Cup is a curious, nationalistic beast. Rankings mean nothing - the mighty often fall and the fallen can act mighty.
Gone is the Russians' foremost cheerleader, the late president Boris Yeltsin. He often attended. Captain Tarpishchev said President Putin is a fan, too. He had the team over for dinner after they won the 2006 Cup. Did the borscht flow like vodka, or vice versa?
Whatever, there's a 9-year-old out there somewhere who will feel like young Roddick did, and want to get in on the act. 