Ah, payback is so sweet. Of course I’m referring to this weekend’s Davis Cup tie between the United States and Spain. If you remember a couple of years ago the United States’ team had to travel to Spain for the Davis Cup final. Red clay slow enough to read the brand name on the balls on every bounce awaited the U.S. So did Rafeal Nadal. Roddick and Blake and the Bryan boys did the best they could but were unable to bring the Cup back home.

This quarterfinal match up was a little different. For one thing Rafael Nadal was not in the lineup for Spain, having forgone Davis Cup in order to prepare for the upcoming clay court season. Second and this was huge, the tie would be played in the United States, far, far away from anything even resembling red clay. Patrick McEnroe had installed the fastest indoor court he could possibly find to nullify any possible hopes the Spaniards might have. James Blake and the fast court were too much for Tommy Robredo in the opening rubber to give the U.S. the early lead. Roddick’s straight set win over Verdasco gave us a 2-0 lead after the first day. Now it was up for the flag bearers of the Huddled Masses, Bob and Mike Bryan, to clinch the tie. And they didn’t disappoint. In one of the more competitive and entertaining matches in recent years in Davis Cup for the boys they defeated Verdasco and Lopez in four sets to clinch the tie and send the United States in tot the semis against Sweden.

Luckily, hopefully, for the U.S team the Swedes aren’t packed with clay court specialists. They probably don’t want to play on clay any more than we do. They do have Jonas Bjorkman to play doubles which might present some problems for the Bryan brothers but they should still pull through. If Roddick and Blake are up to par we should advance to the finals.