By Richard Pagliaro

The lawn has made the cut and the United States hopes to use grass as a spring-board to the semifinals. In an effort to sow the seeds of a third trip to the Davis Cup final four in the past five years, the U.S. will host visiting Chile in the Davis Cup quarterfinals on the grass courts of the Mission Hills Country Club in Rancho Mirage, California, April 7-9th.

U.S. Davis Cup captain Patrick McEnroe officially announced Mission Hills as the quarterfinal site in a conference call with the media today. Mission Hills beat out Delray Beach and Winston-Salem for hosting rights. McEnroe said both of those sites submitted strong bids, but the grass courts of Mission Hills sealed the deal for the Rancho Mirage Club.
“We’re certainly looking forward to heading back to Southern California,” McEnroe said today. “I think a grass court gives us the best possible advantage and best chance to beat Chile. Obviously, they’ve got a couple of great players, but we felt the grass gives us the best possible chance to win the match. My decision was basd on talking to our players, taking a roll call of what they wanted and making the decision what was best for the entire team.”
Tickets for the three-day, best-of-five match series will go on sale to the general public the week of March 6th and can be purchased by calling (888) 484-USTA. Tickets will be sold as a three-day series with prices ranging from $90 to $375, with VIP packages available, the USTA announced.
Three-fourths of the American team that defeated Romania, 4-1, in the Davis Cup first-round tie in LaJolla, California, earlier this month � two-time Wimbledon finalist and three-time Queen’s Club champion Andy Roddick and 2005 Wimbledon doubles finalists Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan � voted to stage the quarterfinal tie on grass. James Blake, who won two singles matches in the United States’ triumph over Romania and has claimed all four of his career titles on hard court, cast the lone vote for hard court.
“We talked to Pat Mac, we had one vote and our vote was to play on grass,” Bob Bryan told Tennis Week in an interview in Manhattan last week. “Obviously, being a doubles team we play (Chile’s Olympic gold medal-winning doubles team Nicolas) Massu and (Fernando) Gonzalez who like to stay back on the baseline. They serve and even stay back. Obviously, grass is the best situation for us; it puts them at a little bit of a disadvantage and we’d be hitting a lot of volleys and turn it into an aerial battle, which I think we could win.”
The United States is 3-0 against Chile though the two teams have not met since 1978 when Brian Gottfried, Harold Solomon and John McEnroe led the U.S. to a 3-2 victory over a Chilean squad of Jaime Fillol and Hans Gildemeister in Santiago.
Patrick McEnroe believes grass maximizes American strengths while magnifying Chile’s weaknesses.
Hosting Chile on grass makes sense for several reasons:
• Chile’s singles starters, Gonzalez and Massu, have been successful on hard court in the past: Massu beat Mardy Fish on a hard court in Athens to claim the gold medal at the 2004 Olympic Games and partnered with Gonzalez to win the Olympic gold in doubles, scoring a straight sets victory over the Bryan brothers in the Olympic quarterfinals.
• Massu is 2-0 lifetime against Roddick, including a 7-6, 6-2 victory in their lone hard-court match at the 2003 Tennis Masters Series-Madrid, and beat Blake on a hard court in their lone professional match.
• Though Roddick is 3-2 lifetime against Gonzalez, the hard-hitting Chilean has scored two wins over the 2003 U.S. Open champion on hard court, is a former U.S. Open quarterfinalist and is capable of hitting virtually any opponent not named Federer off the court if he gets hot on a given day.
• Roddick is a three-time Queen’s Club champion and two-time Wimbledon finalist whose lone losses on grass the past three years have come to Federer.
• Roddick won more matches at Wimbledon last year than Massu has won in his entire six-year history at the All England Club.
• While Gonzalez was a Wimbledon quarterfinalist last year, grass is by far his worst surface as the the huge back swing he has on his forehand affords him little time to adjust to the faster pace of play on grass.
• Massu owns a 25-9 Davis Cup record, but is 0-1 in Davis Cup play on grass; Gonzales has compiled a 21-7 Davis Cup record, but is 8-6 in Davis Cup matches played on surfaces other than clay.
• Blake reached the 2002 Newport final on grass.
• In the event either Roddick or Blake is unavailable for the tie, Taylor Dent won his first career title on Newport’s grass, beating Blake in the 2002 final, and Robby Ginepri reigned as Newport champion in 2003.
• The Bryan brothers won Queen’s Club on grass last year, advanced to the Wimbledon finals and play a traditional, attacking style of doubles much more conducive to grass than the Chileans, who played many points from the baseline en route to the Olympic gold medal in doubles.
In short, hosting Chile on grass is as much of a no-brainer as selecting snow as the surface of choice for the Olympic slalom event.
“Andy’s got an unbelievable record on grass so he wants it on grass,” Mike Bryan told Tennis Week. “I think he knows he can blow those guys off the court (on grass).”
Returning Roddick’s lethal serve off the low bounce of a grass court can be as easy as catching a BB with a thimble.
“I think it (hosting Chile on grass) is big. For me, it would be an advantage,” Roddick said. “Grass is probably my best surface. James (Blake), you know, I don’t know, he might prefer a hard court. I’m not sure. But in the doubles, I think it’s huge as well. I mean, I think actually Mike and Bob might have lost to Massu and Gonzalez at the Olympics. I think they did. I don’t know how well Massu and Gonzalez would be able to stay back and crush forehands on a grass court as opposed to a hard court. So, you know, as far as Xs and Os, I feel like a grass court would be the best surface for us.”
McEnroe is a big believer in Blake’s game and while Blake’s Wimbledon record (2-3 in three career appearances) will never draw comparisons to Boris Becker, Blake is a former Newport finalist on grass who takes the ball much earlier than Massu and Gonzalez. The 20th-ranked Blake owns one of the most forceful forehands in tennis and is adept at flattening out the forehand, he has improved his slice backhand in recent years and exhibits a first-strike mentality that plays well on grass.
While the captain called Roddick and the Bryan brothers “essentially locks” for the tie, he stopped short of saying Blake has secured the second singles spot, citing eight-time Grand Slam champion Andre Agassi, serve-and-volleyer Taylor Dent, who reached the fourth round at Wimbledon last year, and 2003 Newport champion Ginepri as in the running for the second spot.
“James certainly made a major statement in LaJolla, I wouldn’t say that’s a lock (Blake will be selected),” McEnroe said. “Between, James, I spoke to Andre Agassi a couple of times and under the right circumstances, I think he would be interested in coming back, Robby Ginepri, Taylor Dent, certainly on grass with his serve-and-volley game, you’d have to look at him. It’s the same group of guys you’d have to look at for that second spot. The guys are so close for that second spot the next month of tournaments will certainly be a factor, but not the only factor because we’re playing on grass so that certainly puts a twist on it.”
Should the United States conquer Chile in the quarterfinals, it would advance to the September 22nd-24th semifinals against either France or Russia. The U.S., which bowed to France, 3-2, in the 2002 semifinals staged on the red clay of Roland Garros, would host France. However if Russia beats France in the April 7-9th quarterfinal contested in France, the United States would likely face the long flight to Moscow to face Russia on a slow red clay court.
The U.S. is seeking its record-extending 32nd Davis Cup championship. Interestingly, the United States clinched its last Davis Cup title on red clay in Moscow when 14-time Grand Slam champion Pete Sampras, playing on his worst surface, produced a heroic performance, winning two singles matches and teaming with Todd Martin to take the doubles point in the Americans’ dramatic 3-2 victory over Russia in the 1995 final after Yevgeny Kafelnikov guaranteed a Russian victory.
The United States owns a 137-17 record in Davis Cup ties contested in North America. In addition to the home court advantage, McEnroe said American success will require contributions from several players.
“I would be extremely surprised if we won the Davis Cup � if we win the Davis Cup � that we’ll do it with four players,” McEnroe told Tennis Week. “We’re going to need five, six players. Whether we’re playing on a fast court, maybe its Taylor Dent who comes in. Just depending on the situation. We need the guys to be on the same page, understand that it’s a group effort.”
Mission Hills Country Club features 26 tennis courts, including grass, clay and hard-court surfaces. The California Club has a rich tennis tradition. Mission Hills hosted the 1978 Davis Cup final between the United States and visiting Great Britain.
Davis Cup captain Tony Trabert selected a 19-year-old kid from New York named John McEnroe as his No. 1 singles starter and McEnroe responded, sweeping John Lloyd, 6-1, 6-2, 6-2 (McEnroe never lost a match to Lloyd on the ATP Tour or on the senior circuit) in the opening singles match to stake the U.S. to a 1-0 lead before Christopher John “Buster” Mottram beat Brian Gottfried, 4-6, 2-6, 10-8, 6-4, 6-3 to even the tie. The U.S. doubles team of Stan Smith and Bob Lutz scored posted a 6-2, 6-3, 6-3 triumph over David Lloyd and Mark Cox in doubles before McEnroe, showing such uncanny anticipation and the supremely speedy hands of a man who could seemingly re-grip his racquet while the ball was in mid-air and still have time to strike a reflex volley winner, clinched the Cup with a 6-2, 6-2, 6-1 dismissal of Mottram.
As a child, Patrick McEnroe sat in the crowd clutching an American flag cheering for the U.S. during that 1978 final. He will return to Mission Hills as the captain hoping the American team will both advance and inspire in the process.
“Obviously, the primary goal is to win, but it’s also a big goal to put on a great event and put on a great show for the fans,” McEnroe said. “And I thnk we’ll be able to do that out there in Mission Hills.”