You know that scene in “The Last Crusade” when a young Indiana Jones goes to great lengths for the Cross of Coronado and ultimately steals it? Then, in the end, a much older and wiser “Fedora” finds him and makes him hand it over. Jones is forced to oblige, but Fedora–in return–places the hat on the upstart’s head and says, “You lost today, kid, but that doesn’t mean you have to like it.”
After a contentious first-round Davis Cup tie, John Isner, Bob Bryan, and the rest of Team USA were not about to adorn the visitors with gifts and bestow them with praise while sending them on their way back to Brazil. But did the Brazilians’ on-court performance warrant such adulation? Absolutely.
On paper, this matchup was New England Patriots vs. Kansas City Chiefs. It was Manchester United vs. Queen’s Park Rangers. It was “Argo” vs. “Django Unchained.” Both of the home team’s singles players were ranked ahead of Brazil’s top man. Even a third American, warming the bench the whole weekend, registered ahead of 36th-ranked Thomaz Bellucci. No less than 10 Americans were ranked ahead of world No. 141 Thiago Alves. That number includes a guy who hasn’t made an appearance since the U.S. Open, another guy who no longer plays tennis, and another guy who spent the entire weekend in Jacksonville, FL in the commentary booth! Not to mention the fact that the United States also boasted the winningest doubles team in tennis history–one that sported a 20-2 record in Davis Cup.
Day 1 acted accordingly. Sam Querrey steamrolled Bellucci and John Isner, towering almost one whole foot over Alves at 6’9” to 5’10”, also cruised in routine straight sets.
From that moment until the last 10 points of the entire weekend, however, it was all about Brazil. Joao Zwetsch, the captain of the visiting side with what had to be the best name of the tie and easily one of the best names in tennis (you really have to hear it said aloud), doesn’t come across as one to beat down the locker room door and deliver a Herb Brooks “This is your time!” speech. But he must have said something on either Friday night or Saturday morning. Doubles veterans Marcelo Melo and Bruno Soares likely had a thing or two to say, as well.
Whatever the case, Brazil did plenty of talking the rest of the way–both literally and figuratively. The result was everything a Davis Cup tie should be; competitive, controversial, riddled with gamesmanship, and hyped by unruly fans.
It started with a doubles thriller that not only went five sets but also instilled bad blood between “good friends” (in Melo’s words). The Brazilian duo, which was an enormous underdog in this situation despite holding a 2-1 lifetime record against its opponents, took down the Bryan Brothers 7-6(6), 6-7(7), 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 on the middle day of play. It featured wild momentum swings, ridiculous shots, a Bob Bryan “come on” screamed directly in the faces of Melo and Soares, and a confrontation between Bob and the visitors’ bench.
shot of the week by Marcelo Melo:
In the press conference, Bob chalked up the incident to “they got passionate,” “I got passionate at them,” and “it’s Davis Cup; this sort of stuff happens all the time.” Isner, however, was by no means ready to blow off his own run-in with the Brazilian bench in such a dismissive manner. After a spirited performance from Bellucci that saw the underdog win a 2-6, 6-4, 6-7(7), 6-4, 6-3 stunner, a seething Isner commented, “I don’t appreciate their fans at all. I don’t think they’re too classy at all. I’m not going to sugarcoat this. I don’t appreciate their fans at all. I think they’re very rude.”
While Isner was writing reporters’ headlines for them, Querrey was busy losing the first set to Alves. “Sam lost the first set; I don’t know if y’all know that,” Isner grumbled. “We’re in a dogfight now.”
A dogfight? This was the Americans bringing a gun to a knife fight and they were somehow still losing it. Of course, the Brazilians brought heart to said fight and that hands-down leveled the playing field. See Alves, who had no business being on a tennis court (especially not one of the indoor hard variety) with Querrey. Previously unknown to basically everyone outside his native land, an inspired Alves not only stole the opening set but also broke Querrey at 5-4 in the fourth set and forced a tiebreaker in hard-to-believe fashion before finally succumbing 4-6, 6-4, 6-3, 7-6(3).
Say what you will about the fans (we’ll never know exactly what transpired between them and Bob Bryan and Isner), but Alves and Zwetsch were class personified in their final presser (aside from one more obligatory Davis Cup moment in which the captain said of Isner: “cry is free. You can cry as much as you want but Thomaz beat him playing tennis. That’s all”).
“I fight for all the match; all the match,” Alves assured. “I think I’m not just playing for me. I’m playing for everybody here because we are a group and we fight a lot. I can feel this energy. In Brazil we have big hearts…. So it was a great match. Sam is a great player.”
“Well, I would like to congratulate the United States for the victory,” Zwetsch said. “All the credit to the U.S. team.
“I would like to congratulate my team, too, for the great fight we have here. We come back from the first day; bad thing about this first day. But we rebuild our team, came close together again, and fought for every point until the last point of Thiago’s match. I’m very pleased. We did our best. That’s what matters for us. We tried very hard; fought very hard.”
Brazil threw the kitchen sink at the United States. It wasn’t enough to win, but it was enough to earn some serious respect.
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