In a Davis Cup quarterfinal that was missing the top two injured Italian tennis stars and the top doubles player from the United States, Italy defeated the USA 2-1 in the Davis Cup quarterfinals in Malaga, Spain.
Italy was without its top two players – and two top twenty players Jannik Sinner and Matteo Berrettini – who were both injured, while the United States did not have the world’s third-ranked doubles player, Rajeev Ram, who was not selected to the team by U.S. Davis Cup captain Mardy Fish.
The tie was more or less decided in the opening rubber, when Frances Tiafoe, the world No. 19 and the only player to beat Rafael Nadal at a major tournament in 2022 en route to the U.S. Open semifinals, was upset by No. 45 Lorenzo Sonego. After Fritz defeated Lorenzo Musetti to even the tie, Captain Fish’s doubles team selection of Jack Sock and Tommy Paul were defeated by the seasoned team of Fabio Fognini and Simone Bolelli 6-4, 6-4
Following the loss, the critics from Twitter and elsewhere further questioned Fish’s decision to not have Ram on the U.S. squad. However, Fish, like the leader he is, stuck with his decision, put the responsibility upon himself while also saying that the way that Fognini and Bolelli played against Sock and Paul, it would not have made a difference. The doubles would also not have made a difference, also, had Tiafoe defeated the lower-ranked Sonego as well.
The following are some of the quotes from Fish following the loss.
FISH: No doubt that a tough day and no doubt that they were the better team today. No doubt about it. Their doubles, they played phenomenally well. They’re a great team. They have played a lot of big matches together throughout the years in Davis Cup, in the Olympics, and otherwise. They are very familiar with those surroundings. Sonego was maybe the best player of the whole tie today. I mean, he played phenomenally well. Frances played his butt off. Just got beat. And it happens. Obviously super disappointed, but these guys aren’t going anywhere. These guys, Jack’s our oldest guy at 30, so got a bunch of 25-year-olds in the rest, so it’s a process. You know, look, I have wanted to win this thing for a really long time as a player, as a captain, anything. It’s not going to happen this year. That stinks, but we have all got each other’s back. We have had a blast coming over here. We’re going home without the trophy, which is a bummer.
FISH (on chatter for not selecting Rajeev Ram): We’ve got a lot of great players that play for the U.S. Rajeev is one of them. He wasn’t on the team this year, and that’s my choice. This is the team that I put on the court, and so if anyone has an issue with that, that’s on me. Rajeev has played. He’s played and he’s played well. He’s played for us a few times with Jack, and this is a team that I was excited to see. Also Jack and Frances are a phenomenal team. They have played and beaten some really good teams in some competitions as well, and so we had a lot of options. This was the team we went with today. But if Rajeev was here or not, those guys were going to win today. They played well and they’re too good.
FISH (on developing a Davis Cup mentality): That’s what a lot of people don’t understand of the reason why we had these four guys here this week. I’ve got a lot of questions about who was on or off the team this week, and these guys are the present and future of our team. 40-year-olds and beyond aren’t going to play for very much longer, so I have to look at the future as well. It’s not just, Let me look at the rankings and go down and just pick. Doesn’t work like that. Certainly doesn’t work like that with me. It matters to me how you handle it, as well. How you handle not being on the team, how you handle being on the team, all that stuff matters. I add all of that stuff in. So whether we have heard from you this week or not, whether you’re on the team or not, this is a process that is on purpose, and I’ll take all the blame if we don’t do well, and these guys will take the credit when we win. So, look, I will say this lastly about this. No one wants to win this competition more than I do. I’m sure there are many guys that want to win just as much as me. But I have wanted to win this thing since I was a part of it in 2000. That’s 22 years ago. We won in 2007. I was not on the team. I went as a practice partner anyways even though I wasn’t selected. If you’re not selected, that’s an option as well that a lot of guys don’t take advantage of. And I did when I played. I was in the top 50 in the world and I came as a practice partner. We saw Berrettini out there. Didn’t seem like he was going to play today or this week, I don’t know, but he’s on the roster, but he’s here and he’s supporting his teammates. That’s impressive to me. This isn’t just a one-tie, one-match situation for me. It’s a process to build this team. We have a phenomenal team, and we will have a phenomenal team next year as well.
