The Last Time The U.S. Davis Cup Team Played In Delray Beach, Florida

By Randy Walker

@TennisPublisher

The U.S. Davis Cup team is facing Czechia (the former Czech Republic) in the Davis Cup second round at the Delray Beach Tennis Center in Delray Beach, Florida. It marks the second time the U.S. Davis Cup team has played in Delray Beach, the first time being in the 2004 quarterfinals against Sweden. That tie featured Andy Roddick, Mardy Fish and the Bryan Brothers – Bob and Mike Bryan – and was captained by Patrick McEnroe. I served as the USTA”s Davis Cup press officer and documented the USA vs. Sweden tie in an ebook I wrote and published on the entire 2004 U.S. Da vis Cup campaign called “U.S. Davis Cup Stories – Facing A Davis Cup Rookie Named Rafael Nadal In Sevilla” which is for download here https://a.co/d/0MU3kJi

The USA vs. Sweden tie write-up is excerpted below….

The major surprise over the weekend came in Adelaide, Australia, when Sweden shocked Australia 4-1 to be the quarterfinal opponent of the United States. The U.S. and Australian tennis associations were so sure that they would face each other in the quarterfinal that Australia had already publicly announced that the matches would be played at Homebush Bay at the New South Wales Tennis Center – site of the 2000 Olympic tennis competition – while the USTA had already made room reservations at the same hotel it utilized during the Olympic Games.

Australia’s loss proved to be the ultimate elixir to the United States. The Davis Cup quarterfinals were scheduled to be played April 9-11, just five days after the conclusion of the NASDAQ-100 Open in Key Biscayne, Fla., regarded as the fifth biggest tournament in tennis. Considering that Andy Roddick and the Bryan twins were likely to be playing in the final weekend of the NASDAQ, a 32-hour flight to Sydney would ensue, resulting in a Wednesday arrival in Australia and one day of jet-lagged full-practice, potentially on a grass court surface, before the start of the tie.  Major advantage to Australia.

The Delray Beach Stadium and Tennis Center in Delray Beach, Fla., was selected as the site for the U.S. vs. Sweden tie. So with Australia’s loss, Roddick had to only endure a two-hour drive from Key Biscayne to Delray Beach, Florida after winning the NASDAQ-100 Open in a tough final round struggle over Argentina’s Guillermo Coria.

Said Roddick, “Before (Sweden) beat the Aussies, I was planning to get on a plane to Australia last Monday in Miami, arriving in Sydney Wednesday, and playing [Lleyton] Hewitt on Friday. Ten minutes from home is a better alternative.”

After sitting on the sidelines for the Austria tie, Fish returned to the four-man squad for the tie against Sweden, along with the Bryan brothers and Roddick. Fish and Roddick found representing their country in Delray Beach at bit nostalgic as both had grown up in the area – Fish in Vero Beach, Fla., just two hours north of Delray Beach, and Roddick in nearby Boca Raton. During Roddick’ and Fish’s senior year in high school, the two actually lived together at Blanche and Jerry Roddick’s as the two tennis prodigies attended high school together. Fish and Roddick both reminisced of their shared fear of the wrath of Jerry Roddick, their less than desirable basketball skills as well as their dreams of winning college championships, but nothing as big as Davis Cup.

“The thing we joke about was taking full scholarships to Montana State and winning a tennis championship,” said Roddick “I was trying to convince them of Nebraska and Mardy was trying to convince us of Minnesota. But I don’t remember us talking about something this big.”

Sweden’s team named by captain Mats Wilander was missing one key component, 21-year-old Joachim Johannson, who was unable to compete in the tie due to shoulder and back problems. In retrospect, Johansson’s absence was crippling for the Swedes, as the six-foot six-inch “Swedish heatball” had just begun to establish himself as a force on the tour, winning his first ATP singles title in Memphis – defeating Blake and Fish en route. Later in the year, after recovering from his shoulder and back ailments, Johansson would shock the tennis world, by upsetting defending champion Roddick in the quarterfinals of the US Open, before falling to Lleyton Hewitt in the semifinals. Wilander’s team would be anchored by Jonas Bjorkman, the man who won three points for Sweden in the 1997 Davis Cup final against the United States. Former Australian Open finalist Thomas Enqvist, up-and-comer Robin Soderling and 2002 Australian Open champion Thomas Johansson, coming back from injury, rounded out the Swedish team.

After his childhood friend from Vero Beach and future country western superstar Jake Owen (then known as Josh Owen) opened the festivities by singing the national anthem, Fish took the court in the opening rubber against Bjorkman. Fish was playing only his sixth Davis Cup match and his first Davis Cup singles match on U.S. soil, while Bjorkman countered with experiences in 45 previous Davis Cup matches. 

After winning a hard-fought first set in the dripping hot and humid conditions, Fish struggled with his serve, movement and an errant forehand to the more experienced Bjorkman – 10 years Fish’s senior. Enduring four match rain delays, Bjorkman endured by a 4-6, 6-3, 6-2, 7-5 margin to give Sweden the 1-0 lead.

“I guess it’s just a lot more at stake,” said Fish of the difference between the Davis Cup atmosphere and that of the regular tour. “It’s just not yourself. It’s your teammates. It’s the crowd. It’s your country. It’s just a different atmosphere. I can’t really describe it.”

Returning to the locker room, Fish high-fived Roddick as he readied to take the court against Enqvist. “Sorry,” said Fish. Roddick, reminding his teammate of the Slovakia tie from the previous fall retorted, “You got my back last time, I’m going to get your back this time.”

With the U.S. down 0-1, Roddick left nothing for chance, enduring a tough first set from Enqvist under the lights at the Delray Beach Tennis Center to even the score at tie at 1-1 with his 6-4, 7-5, 6-2 victory.

With Joachim Johansson on the sidelines, Bjorkman was paired with Thomas Johansson in the doubles against the Bryan brothers. The two Swedes had never won a match on tour together as a team in five previous pairings – and it showed against the Bryans. The twins had little trouble extinguishing the Swedes 6-3, 6-3, 6-2 to give the U.S. the important 2-1 lead.

After almost three years of going with back-up singles players as a doubles team, McEnroe was now set with the doubles specialists – the Bryan twins – as his doubles team. Since the United States last won the Davis Cup title in 1995, the U.S. had utilized numerous different doubles combinations, resulting in paltry results. The Bryans were now 3-0 as a team and had yet to lose a set.

“The doubles point is crucial,” said McEnroe. “It’s huge to have these guys step up as they’ve done in the last year and a half and rise up not only on the tour but in their Davis Cup matches. I think it takes a lot of pressure off our singles guys mentally. I think that’s made a big difference, in addition to them winning, which is obviously the A‑1 thing. I think the singles guys now come in knowing what they’ve got to do and what their role is and knowing, come Sunday, that, you know, these guys are going to come to play.”

On Sunday, it was all Roddick, as he strutted, bullied and blistered Bjorkman finishing the match with a 152 mph serve – breaking his world record set he had set at Mohegan Sun two months earlier. Bjorkman, known for his return of serve, actually returned Roddick’s record serve, only to lose the point, clinching the tie for the United States. Exclaiming on court that the final set was “orgasmic,” Roddick described his third set roll as almost perfect. “That’s as clean as I’ve felt on the tennis court in a long time ‑ and maybe ever,” said Roddick. “I mean, it’s only a handful of times where you feel like whatever shot you’re trying is working.”