The US was the third prime favourite to win the Davis Cup Finals behind Italy and Spain. Nevertheless, their run in Malaga ended already within the quarter-finals towards Australia regardless of being thought-about favorites by bookmakers.
Captain Bob Bryan had many options at his disposal and the American gamers had been superior to the Australian ones on such a quick floor. Bob’s decisions didn’t persuade in any respect and condemned the USA to a surprising elimination.
Bryan determined to area Ben Shelton within the first singles, a participant who was making his Davis Cup debut and who might wrestle to deal with the strain. That is precisely what occurred. Shelton was defeated by Thanasi Kokkinakis within the decisive tiebreak and the scenario received sophisticated.
Ben Shelton, Basel 2024© Stream screenshot
2024 US Open finalist Taylor Fritz performed an ideal match towards Alex de Minaur within the second singles and ‘pressured’ the decisive doubles, the place Bob Bryan made a very surprising resolution. As an alternative of utilizing a really skilled pair like Austin Krajicek and Rajeev Ram, the US captain selected Tommy Paul and Shelton who had been defeated by Jordan Thompson and Matt Ebden in straight units.
Bryan has been a lot criticized for his decisions and plenty of argue that he bears the best accountability for the untimely elimination of the US on this version of the Davis Cup Finals. In truth, the 2 choices weren’t very logical and the gamers themselves don’t appear to have understood them.
A severe mistake
Bob’s eagerness to be the protagonist was detrimental to his staff, who had many probabilities of getting an ideal end in Malaga this 12 months.
High coach Paul Annacone mirrored on Crew USA’s surprising loss towards Australia: “My choice would have been not putting Ben Shelton back out there
I love Ben he’s an awesome player, but in his first tie, to have a crushing loss like that, that close, and then Taylor Fritz wins his match and then totally having it riding on his shoulders again.
I think that’s a lot to ask, I wouldn’t have done that.
Whether you put Taylor with Tommy Paul, or the doubles specialists on is another conversation.
I just think it’s a really tough ask for Ben to do that after he’s lost that match like that.”
Annacone continued: “We’d be a little bit remiss in our responsibilities if we didn’t mention the fact that we have some information, we don’t have all of it.
Bob was there all week, saw every practice session, all the doubles between the guys playing because you have Rajeev Ram and Austin Krajicek playing practice matches with Tommy Paul and Ben.
Bob gets the feedback from the players, how they feel, has to weigh the matchup, who’s going to play well.”
Bob Bryan’s phrases
Regardless of the loss and the apparent mistake made in the course of the tie, Bob didn’t take accountability for what occurred. Bryan defended his alternative, which sparked nice controversy amongst followers and insiders. Paul performed nice in doubles on the Paris Olympics this summer time, however he could not do a lot towards two doubles specialists.
Shelton – alternatively – has no expertise on this competitors and was nonetheless shocked by the defeat towards Kokkinakis after a really laborious battle. Ben has proven that he nonetheless struggles to handle a sure sort of strain and the selection to area him on the identical day was definitely not a great one.
Ben Shelton, Shanghai Masters 2024© Stream screenshot
The frequent feeling is that the US has actually failed an necessary probability. With Spain’s premature elimination on Day 1, the USA had much more probabilities to win the Davis Cup this 12 months. Bryan should take into consideration his option to keep away from making the identical mistake sooner or later. Nevertheless, the previous doubles champion believes that his transfer was not so dangerous.
“Yeah, listen, as a captain, you have to make tough decisions. You know, I had a lot of information behind the decision. You know, we have been here for six days practicing. You know, we know how everyone is feeling, and we know a lot about the opponents that we’re playing. It’s a world of analytics” – Bob defined in his press convention.
“You talk amongst the other coaches. You talk with the players. Luckily my brother is here, we have Dean Goldfine, Kent Kinnear, a lot of great coaches. We get together and we make a tough decision. This wasn’t a black-and-white decision. It was razor-thin edge, you know, and we went with it. We knew it could have turned out like it did, because we’re playing a tough team. But like I said, I don’t regret anything about this” – he concluded.
