Davis Cup Semifinals

The second to last weekend of Davis Cup starts tomorrow. In addition to the two semifinals, there are eight relegation ties, with the winner moving on to the World Group in 2011 and the loser forced back to Zonal Competition. 

One semifinal is France vs. Argentina. Gael Monfils starts the tie off against David Nalbandian. Although Monfils had a better US Open with a quarterfinal to Nalbandian's third round result, Nalbandian has been playing better in general this summer. He also loves the Davis Cup atmosphere.

Then Michael Llodra, who may or may not be dealing with a foot injury, faces Juan Monaco, who hasn't played many matches lately. Llodra looked great at the Open (including an upset of Tomas Berdych in the first round) until that foot injury started to really bother him against Tommy Robredo in the fourth round. 

Doubles may not look great at first glance, but both teams are actually quite formidable. Llodra and Arnaud Clement won Wimbledon in 2007, although they haven't played together much recently. The opposite is true of Eduardo Schwank and Horacio Zeballos, who made the US Open Semifinal before losing to the Bryan twins. Nalbandian may be subbed in for one of the two, depending on the first day's results, as this has often happened in the past. 

On the final day of the tie, Monfils will take on Monaco, followed by Nalbandian against Llodra. If it does come down to the final match, llook for Llodra to llose his nerves and Nalbandian to stir up more talk of why he can't play in regular tournaments like he does in Davis Cup.

Prediction: France 3-1

In the other semifinal, Serbia takes on the Czech Republic. US Open finalist and world number two Novak Djokovic will start it off against Radek Stepanek, who returned to the tour around a month ago after recovering from an assortment of injuries and a honeymoon with Nicole Vaidisova. If Djokovic isn't too tired, this should be a walk in the part with his recent form. Stepanek, however, can always be tricky to play against with his net-rushing style.

Janko Tipsarevic, fresh off yet another beat-who-you-shouldn't-and-lose-to-who-you-should-beat slam, faces Tomas Berdych. Berdych has more talent and oodles of power, but Tipsarevic loves to feed off of his opponents' pace.

Doubles will likely be Berdych and Stepanek against Nenad Zimonjic and either Viktor Troicki, Tipsarevic, or Djokovic. Zimonjic is by far the most accomplished doubles player of the four, but the Czech pair are probably better than whoever partners Zimonjic. 

Djokovic and Berdych will square off in the first match on Sunday, in what looks on paper to be the most exciting matchup of the weekend. It depends on whether Berdych can regain his form from Wimbledon and before and whether Djokovic has enough left in the tank as to whether the match will live up to the hype. 

If the tie goes to a final rubber, Stepanek will take on either Troicki or Tipsarevic, which really is a toss-up as to who would play. If Tipsarevic plays well in the first match, he'll probably play this one as well.

Prediction: Serbia 3-2

The United States also faces Colombia in a relegation matchup, but I won't preview that here. I do expect the US to come through after 4 tight matches though.