Davis Cup Day 1 Doldrums

Serbia was supposed to be competitive with Russia. But Serbia's top two players, Novak Djokovic and Janko Tipsarevic, pulled out of Day 1 action with flu-like symptons. Djoke pulled out 45 minutes before he was scheduled to start play looking pale and tired. Apparently, he was fine at his press conference. Doubles specialist Nenad Zimonjic subbed for Djoke and lost the first rubber in four sets to Mikhail Youhzny. As I write this, Victor Troicki is about to make his Davis Cup debut against Nikolay Davydenko. So much for a competitive tie.

Things that make you go, "Hmmmm...."



And then there are the things that make you spit bullets. The defending Davis Cup champions are playing in Austria and there is no live television coverage in the States. Versus will air the rubbers each day at noon EST on tape delay, TC will repeat them at 8:00pm. Andy Roddick takes on Jurgen Melzer, followed by James Blake against Stefan Koubek.

Alas, I'll wait till noon because scoreboard watching just isn't how I want to watch the defending champs play their first tie since bringing the cup back to the USA.

Insulting.