USA lost to Italy in the doubles rubber with Tommy Paul and Jack Sock failing to get the job done as they were defeated by Fabio Fognini and Simone Bolelli 64 64. The key win advanced Italy to the Davis Cup semifinals.
The American doubles team selection by Fish of Paul/Sock has been heavily criticized and also the snub by Fish of not inviting Rajeev Ram to play on the squad. Team USA could have added Ram to the team however Fish opted to bring four players, not the permitted five. Fish selected Frances Tiafoe, Taylor Fritz, Paul and Sock.
Ram tweeted after the loss about his disgruntlement of not being asked to play by Fish. Ram is currently ranked no. 3 in the world in doubles and fresh off the Nitto World Tour Finals title with his partner Joe Salisbury. Ram and Salisbury also won the US Open doubles title in September.
“I’m very disappointed. I put in a lot of hard work this year to help the team get there,” said Ram. “I felt like I had earned the spot if you will. So I was quite surprised when I wasn’t picked, and even more surprised to be honest that they only went with four players instead of five. That was the choice. But, yeah, I was hoping to be on the team for sure.”
There have been many speculations about why Fish would snub Ram, who did play for the USA Davis Cup team earlier this year and in 2021.
The younger American players don’t vibe or have good chemistry with the 37 year old veteran.
The team opted to take the route of splitting the Davis Cup prize money four ways instead of five ways if Ram was included.
Fish is incompetent.
Fish deferred to the wishes of Fritz, Paul, Tiafoe and Sock.
Fish defended his decision: “We’ve got a lot of great players that play for the US, Rajeev is one of them. He wasn’t on the team this year, and that’s my choice. This is the team that I put on the court, and so if anyone has an issue with that, that’s on me. Rajeev has played. He’s played and he’s played well. He’s played for us a few times with Jack, and this is a team that I was excited to see. Also, Jack and Frances are a phenomenal team. They have played and beaten some really good teams in some competitions as well, and so we had a lot of options. This was the team we went with today. But if Rajeev was here or not, those guys were going to win today. They played well and they’re too good.”
Italy will battle Team Canada for a place in the Davis Cup finals vs Australia, which defeated Croatia. Borna Coric beat Thanasi Kokkinakis but then Alex de Minaur beat Marin Cilic and then Max Purcell and Jordan Thompson upset Pavic/Mektic 67 75 64.
Australia is into their first Davis Cup final since 2003 and captain Lleyton Hewitt is elated with the fortunes of the green and gold. “I couldn’t be prouder of the whole team,” Hewitt said after the triumph. “We knew we were the underdogs coming into this today and we like being in that position. It’s a place I really enjoyed as a player and also as a captain. For Thommo [Thompson] to step up, though, and take up that responsibility tonight in a do-or-die doubles match, he’s played some doubles in Davis Cup before, which gave me a lot of confidence, but he played his role perfectly tonight. And then Max, though, to take the lead role as well, playing with a new partner out there, I couldn’t be prouder. There is a big thing in Davis Cup doubles which is about chemistry, and these two certainly had it, which helped.”
ATP · Davis Cup · Jack SOck · Lleyton Hewitt · Mardy Fish · Rajeev Ram
Scoop Malinowski · November 28, 2022 at 12:57 pm
Congrats to Team Canada for winning the Davis Cup for the first time beating Australia, Felix and Shap the big heroes.