Some say that the mighty dollar, pound or euro has crowded out patriotism from the modern world of sport. But try telling that to the 16,000 Serbs who filled the Belgrade Arena last October to cheer their team on against France and win the Davis Cup for the first time. Serbia are 4/1 with Betfred to retain their title this year and start off in Novi Sad with a very winnable home tie against a young Indian team without established doubles pairing Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi. The champions themselves will have to cope without talisman Novak Djokovic, arguably the best hardcourt player in the world at present, but Viktor Troiki and Janko Tripsarevic have been around the block enough times to compensate for his absence. In fact, let’s ignore the usual ploy of pointing out relative pros and cons and say that I fancy the Serbians to retain their crown because they are almost guaranteed to field their strongest line-up once the action gets serious whereas you can’t say that about every nation in this year’s World Group.
Considering their resources, it’s surprising that the USA have only won the Davis Cup twice in the last 16 years and I don’t rate their chances this time around either, even though they should gain some impetus from Jim Courier‘s appointment as non-playing captain. Andy Roddick will be their lynchpin this year but he won’t be suited by the red clay of Santiago, where they play their opening match against Chile, and extrabet‘s 10/1 looks poor value if you consider they will probably face Spain in the quarter-finals in July if they get through that one. Rafael Nadal has pledged to lead the Spaniards whenever possible which is why they have been installed as 5/2 favourites (Boylesports and Paddy Power). But that’s not the same as saying he will play in every round, which tempers enthusiasm slightly as back-up David Ferrer is decidedly second division nowadays and they can be very fragile, as they showed when whitewashed by the French last year. France are a general 6/1 but no certainties to get past the first-round clash with Austria at Vienna Airport. Amid rumours of off-court differences of opinion, it’s unlikely that the French are going to be anywhere near fully staffed with Jo-Wilfrid Tsonga, Gael Monfils and Richard Gasquet having already cried off. The Austrians have Jurgen Melzer coming into the match in the form of his life and their odds of 125/1 (Boylesports) will shrink noticeably if they perform well. Argentina (13/2 with Bet365 and Stan James) are capable of going close, as are the Czech Republic (a general 9/1) but the patriotic Serbs could hold all the aces again.
March 3rd, 2011 / paul - Category: Sports Betting
