Birmingham serves up Davis Cup success with crowds, U.S. victories
The crowd watches Day One Davis Cup action in Birmingham. USTA officials and event organizers were highly satisfied with attendance and other aspects of the event. (Solomon Crenshaw Jr./Alabama NewsCenter)
Birmingham can look forward to hosting more major tennis events if Jeff Ryan has his way.
The director of team events for the United States Tennis Association again gave a glowing review after the Americans logged a 5-0 sweep of Switzerland in their first-round Davis Cup matchup in Legacy Arena at the Birmingham-Jefferson Convention Complex before an announced three-day crowd of 15,917.
“We had, once again, a wonderful experience here in Birmingham,” Ryan said Sunday. “This is our third time being here (including a 2010 Fed Cup victory), and to have 15,000 people come through our gates over the past three days and support Team USA has been nothing but fabulous for us.”
The United States improved to 2-0 in Davis Cup ties played at Legacy Arena. The first one was in 2009 against a Switzerland squad led by Stan Wawrinka. (A “tie” is the official term for a meeting between two countries on the court that determines which one advances in the tournament.)
This time, the visitors were missing Wawrinka and former world No. 1 Roger Federer. A Swiss journalist called the task of the visitors “mission impossible,” and indeed it proved to be against a new-look team from the USA.
“It was capped by a win, but it’s a market that we really enjoy,” Ryan said. “We’ve been here three times, and if I have any say in the matter I can see us coming back.”
USTA expressed similar sentiments in a subsequent tweet, stating, “This city has our heart now!”
@solomoncrenshaw We really do hope to bring #TeamUSATennis back to Birmingham soon. This city has our heart now!
— USTA (@usta) February 7, 2017
Leaders impressed
Ryan was particularly impressed with the interaction of children in this year’s event. That included Zoo School students from Wylam K-8 who helped in the draw ceremony at the Birmingham Zoo and youngsters who participated in ceremonies that opened play each day.
“I felt like there was more youth here on site and they were enjoying themselves, to be honest, which is great for us,” said Ryan, who added that other USTA leaders “made mention of that quite a few times.”
The USTA director of team events said he and others noticed how well Legacy Arena has been maintained.
U.S. Davis Cup Team praises great fan support In Birmingham from Alabama NewsCenter on Vimeo.
“We got to see some of the improvements that were being contemplated the last time we were here and we heard about,” he said. “It’s quite a nice, welcoming facility from a tennis point of view.”
Bruno Event Team President Gene Hallman said the event met his team’s objectives as it continued to strengthen its relationship with the United States Tennis Association. Hallman was particularly impressed with attendance on Sunday, which was hours before kickoff of the Super Bowl.
“Based upon a visual, it far exceeded my expectation,” he said. “To have two three-set exhibitions, I did not expect the crowd that we had. It’s more than I would have thought.”
U.S. dominates
While Sunday’s singles matches counted in the final total, they were referred to as “dead rubbers” since the outcome of the tie had been determined with the two U.S. singles wins on Friday and the doubles victory on Saturday.
“I thought especially on Saturday,” Hallman said, “that crowd and that energy really made Birmingham look great on international television.”
Despite being a heavy favorite, the Americans experienced a few bumps on their way to securing the tie.
Jack Sock’s opening singles match with Marco Chiudinelli was tight through eight games. Sock broke his Swiss opponent in the ninth game, held to win the set and went on to a 6-4, 6-3, 6-1 victory.
“You know there are always a few extra nerves playing Davis Cup,” Sock said. “I think I was hesitant at the beginning; maybe too conservative playing, when obviously my game is to kind of play big and hit big forehands and be aggressive.”
John Isner had a similar experience as he lost his first set against Henri Laaksonen. The American won the next two sets with ease before being pushed to a tiebreaker in the fourth set. The former Georgia Bulldog took control there, winning the tiebreaker 7-1 for a 4-6, 6-2, 6-2, 7-6 win.
Captain Jim Courier matched Sock with Steve Johnson in doubles against Laaksonen and Adrien Bossel, and the Americans clinched the tie with a 7-6 (3), 6-3, 7-6 (5) win. Team USA dispatched Switzerland in quick order Sunday as Sam Querrey beat Bossel 6-3, 7-5 and Johnson downed Antoine Bellier 6-4, 6-3.
The win sends the Americans to the World Group Quarterfinals against Australia April 7-9 at a site Down Under to be determined. Switzerland will compete in the World Group Playoff, Sept. 15-17, for the right to remain in the World Group in 2018.
