This is the first time the Davis Cup hasn’t had one of Andy Roddick or James Blake in recent memory.  Roddick told Davis Cup captain, Patric McEnroe, that he was advised not to play Davis Cup because the change of playing hard courts to clay courts wasn’t good for his body.  Roddick has had an assortment of injuries that has kept him off the tour for months, most recently after dropping out of Shanghai.

Blake’s ranking has plummeted to 52, which makes Sam Querrey and John Isner, both named to the Davis Cup team, as the highest ranked Americans other than Andy Roddick.

Roddick’s still probably the US’s best clay court player, which isn’t saying much.  It takes a lot of work for Roddick to reach the quarterfinals of the French.  Clay is clearly his weakest surface.  Americans routinely lose in the first two rounds of the French Open, and often in the first round, leaving 1-2 players left.

This was the first time the US had played Serbia, partly because Serbia was only recently any good, and partly because Serbia used to compete with Montenegro and then as Yugoslavia prior to that.

Serbia picked an indoor clay court to maximize their chances of winning.  With Novak Djokovic playing for Serbia, they probably could have picked any surface except grass, and had a good chance to do well, but Djokovic is equally adept on clay as he in on faster surfaces.  Since the US is so bad on clay, it makes sense to pick clay for Serbia.

Both matches turned out roughly the same.  John Isner opened the day against Victor Troicki.  Troicki is ranked 35th and Janko Tipsarevic ranked 36th.  This is about 15 spots behind Querrey (ranked 22) and Isner (ranked 20).

While Isner has improved his forehand, his movement still gives him problems.  He simply doesn’t move nearly as fast as, say, Sam Querrey.  It’s not that Querrey is that speedy either, but he moves decently well for a big guy.  Isner isn’t Karlovic slow, but he is slow.  Troicki was able to take advantage of this.  Even so, Isner won a second set in a tiebreak.  However, Troicki came back to win the third and fourth set with a break in each set.

Sam Querrey actually had a relatively decent shot to push Djokovic.  After losing the first set, 6-2, Querrey had a break in the second set, and was up 15-30 on Djokovic’s serve, but ultimately, couldn’t get the second break and couldn’t maintain the one break he did have.  The set went to tiebreak which Djokovic eventually won.  Querrey took the third set, 6-2, but was unable to maintain the momentum and lost the fourth set, 6-3.  One wonders what might have happened if Querrey had won the second set.

Querrey’s big improvement is to master a classic Federer move.  Run around the backhand to hit either a bit inside-out forehand or a big inside-in forehand.  He hits this shot much harder than he used to and used it to get ahead.  Even so, it wasn’t enough to win the match, and he lost in four sets.

This leaves US in a 2-0 deficit.  The Bryan brothers aren’t even guaranteed to win the doubles.  Zimonjic, who usually partners with Dan Nestor, has given he Bryan brothers trouble.  However, Zimonjic won’t be paired with his partner who, although born in Serbia, plays for Canada, where his family emigrated.  He will play with Janko Tipsarevic.

Should the Bryan brothers win, John Isner would have the tall order (so to speak) of beating Novak Djokovic.  Querrey would probably have been better served playing Troicki since his chances of winning would be greater, than the match might have gotten pushed to a fifth match.  However, with the US down 2-0, even a Bryan brothers victory would mean Isner plays Djokovic.  Right now, even though Querrey is ranked behind Isner, he’s still the better player.

It doesn’t look good for the US, but at least it’s good experience for both these players.  Querrey has played Davis Cup before, but this is Isner’s first Davis Cup.