It appears that the all-time greats in tennis have earned at least one Davis Cup title. If so, why is it that Roger Federer is a minor leaguer when it comes to this piece of his legacy pie?
The latest top player to claim the sweetest prize in tennis’ ultimate team tennis is Novak Djokovic. Djokovic carved up Gilles Simon and Gael Monfils of France to help Serbia win its first Davis Cup championship. Rog may have been throwing foam raquets at his television when he saw Novak hoisting the Davis Cup over his head.
Rod Laver, who many feel is the greatest player of all time, won 5 Davis Cups from 1959-62 and again in 1973. Pete Sampras, the player Federer has been compared to the most won two Davis Cup titles in 1992 and 1995. World #1 Rafael Nadal, who many feel may become the greatest player of all time, has bagged two Davis Cups in 2004 and 2009 and it may well have been three if he wasn’t injured in 2008. Andy Roddick won one in 2007 and Nicolay Davydenko won one in 2006!
It appears that Roger Federer, for the past 6 years, has chosen to play only the first round of Davis Cup win or lose, skipping 2010 altogether. Perhaps he dare not upend his schedule in his quest to win major titles. Perhaps he has given up trying feeling the Swiss team doesn’t have what it takes to help him win four ties in a row. How can this be? With the very talented Stanislas Wawrinka, a former top 10 player, the Swiss team could conceivably have a shot at winning it all. After all he won the Gold medal with Wawrinka at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.
Federer’s 37-11 record in Davis Cup play is a very respectable 77% win percentage. Does this really matter when you are beating up on guys that are mostly outside of the top 20 in first round ties?
It takes a team player with a consistent effort and guts year after year to actually win it. Federer has not shown a champion’s heart in Davis Cup. Losing the biggest match of his Davis Cup career to former #1 Leyton Hewitt in five sets. In his 2003 semi-final rubber against Hewitt, Federer threw in the towel in the fifth set after being up two sets losing 5/7; 2/6; 7/6 (4); 7/5; 6/1 handing the Australians the tie. Hewitt and his “mates” went on to win the cup over Spain in the final.
Hewitt has made it important to compete deep into the Davis Cup tournament irrespective of his schedule. So too have Laver, Sampras, Nadal and now Djokovic. They have all been rewarded with what many of them have called their greatest victories in tennis. Each of these greats have gutted out hard fought matches on their way to winning the cup.
It takes a special individual who predominantly plays an individualistic sport to come together and win tennis’ greatest team prize. One must be selfless in their dedication to their country and to their teammates in order to achieve success. One must sacrifice and plan their schedules accordingly. Roger Federer has not. He continues to cling to his individualism that has served him well on the ATP Tour but put him in the minor leagues in Davis Cup.
