Roddick worthy of plaudits for Davis Cup prowess
September 24, 2007 LONDON (Ticker) - As a first-year pro, Andy Roddick had four tennis ambitions - to become world No. 1 and win the U.S. Open, Wimbledon and the Davis Cup. The first two were ticked off long ago, and although Wimbledon may prove beyond him as long as Roger Federer is around, putting his name on the most prestigious trophy in team tennis may be less than three months away.

Having watched him closely the past few days in Gothenburg, Sweden, you could see how much the Davis Cup means to Roddick - from his preparation right through his performances to the moment of celebration when he dropped to his knees having put USA into the final.

Three years ago, in the last appearance by the United States in the December showpiece against Spain, Roddick suffered at the hands of a teenage Rafael Nadal and his mentor Carlos Moya in front of a huge crowd in Seville.

Twelve months ago, Roddick again was left distraught by his singles losses to Marat Safin and Dmitry Tursunov in the semifinal against Russia in Moscow. But now he has the chance to avenge that defeat and win the biggest title he still has a chance to get his hands on as the United States will host defending champion Russia in this year's final.

Following their excellent doubles win on Saturday against Sweden, which put Team USA up, 2-1, going into the reverse singles after Roddick's impressive first-day win against Joachim Johansson, Bob and Mike Bryan called on the teammate they have nicknamed "Mariano Rivera" (after the great New York Yankees' closer) to clinch another tie for them.

Eight times out of eight in the past, Roddick had done exactly that and he duly obliged this time with another straights-sets win over Jonas Bjorkman, a late replacement for the ailing Thomas Johansson, who had played so well to beat James Blake on Friday.

Interestingly, when Roddick has been asked in the past to keep the U.S. in the hunt in a tie from 1-2 down, he has always been beaten. But right now it would be unfair to dwell on those disappointments and better to acknowledge how Roddick has spearheaded this year's campaign with the same established team under captain Patrick McEnroe.

Following last year's loss in Moscow, McEnroe admitted his team would struggle to regain the trophy that was last lifted by the Americans in 1995 (for the 31st time in the competition's long history) if they could not regularly win away on clay. Since taking over the captaincy in 2001, Team USA had only managed that twice in the World Group playoffs but never in the main draw.

But when Roddick won both his singles away to the Czech Republic in Ostrava in this year's first round, there was a definite sense that this could be their year.

Two months later, he won the only match he played in another 4-1 win - this time at home to Spain - and having now just notched up his 24th and 25th Davis Cup singles rubbers out of 34 played since his debut in 2001, who other than the Russians would begrudge Roddick adding his name to an illustrious list of Americans engraved on the huge trophy? It clearly would mean a huge amount to him.

"If I don't win another match between now and the final but we win the final, I'll take that,"

Roddick said. "This is my No. 1 priority for the rest of the year, and I'll be discussing my tournament schedule with Jimmy (Connors, his coach) and Patrick (McEnroe) to make sure I look after my body and it's right where it needs to be for the final." It was the seventh successive tie in which McEnroe has been able to put out the same team, and as five men clearly on a mission the bond between them has never been stronger.

"It's what you practice for," Roddick said. "It's what you work for. I'm so proud to be part of this team, I'm so proud of my teammates, I wouldn't trade this team for any in the world. I love these guys, and we get another shot at winning the Davis Cup, so I'm really happy right now."

Considering that the USA had not only lost all three of their previous meetings with Sweden in the Scandinavium stadium, but more pertinently that Roddick and his teammates had all woken up on Friday with flu-like symptoms, their success was even more impressive.

Victory means the U.S. will now host the final (November 30December 2m probably in Portland, Oregon) for the first time since 1992, when the American "dream team" of Andre Agassi, Jim Courier, John McEnroe and Pete Sampras beat Switzerland, 3-1, in Fort Worth, Texas. Ironically the last time Team USA won the Davis Cup was away to Russia on clay in 1995.

The Americans are sure to want a faster surface this time, but McEnroe and his men will have to give it some careful thought before making their choice against a country that has won two of the last five Davis Cup finals, and features a captain in Shamil Tarpischev (having just led Russia's women to another Fed Cup title as well) who has proved himself to be the best in the world.

"We know they will play on a fast hard court so it's all about good preparation," said Tarpischev, who will want to get his visa application in early after his entry into the USA in July, when Russia played the USA in the Fed Cup semifinals was delayed until the last minute.

Whether Safin plays any part in the final seems increasingly unlikely. Last seen heading off for a spot of mountaineering, having reportedly ruled himself out for the rest of the tennis season because of a stress fracture in one of his hands, Safin's place as team talisman was taken over by Igor Andreev, who started and finished Russia's 3-2 semifinal win versus Germany.

As in this year's first-round tie away to Chile, Andreev again proved himself to be an outstanding player on clay. He began the tie by dismissing Tommy Haas in the first rubber and then outplayed a tiring Philipp Kohlschreiber in the fifth.

"It's an amazing feeling playing here in Moscow and it's the second time I won the deciding point ... it's great," Andreev said. "I like this feeling of adrenaline in your body before going on the court, it's so exciting to play here and it's great for our country to reach the Davis Cup final for the second year in a row. "It's going to be a great final. We played them (USA) last year in Moscow and it will be exciting to play them in the States. They have a great team but we have a good chance to win."