Israel-Argentina Davis Cup Day 1 Recap
Jonathan Morgan, Tennis East Coast
With the current unrest in the Middle East, the ITF decided to move the Davis Cup World Group Playoff between Israel and Argentina from Tel-a-Viv, Israel to Sunrise, Florida. This neutral venue would provide, in theory, an equal cheering section for both teams.
First, we had the opening ceremony:
The first match of the day was #25 in the world Leo Mayer of Argentina vs. Bar Botzer (#776) of Israel. Botzer was called in to replace the injured Amir Weintraub.
It appeared as though Israel still got the lion’s share of the support. Not as much as they’d receive at home, but throughout the day, Israel had on average more people cheering for them.
Botzer started out nervous, hitting several easy early errors in the opening game and was broken. After that opening game, however, he loosened up and held his own in the set before Mayer won it by 6-4.
Botzer is very Hewitt-like, both in appearance and game style, save for the one handed backhand he possesses.
In the Davis Cup, you play for your team first, and yourself 2nd:
In the 2nd set, Mayer had the break with 3-2, but with 2 double faults, some loud Israeli support and Botzer showing his best, he was able to break back, then hold for 4-3. On the changeover, the Israeli crowd support got even louder. And when Botzer broke again (Mayer a bit loose, and 2 more double faults), and served it out, he belted a big “C’mon!” like Hewitt and ripped out the lawn mower celebration!
After they split sets, both took a bathroom break. In the 3rd, Mayer calmed down a bit and was able to play a normal game and won it by 6-2. Botzer looked to strain a leg muscle sliding into a shot on the hard court and called the trainer between 3rd and 4th sets. He was still able to compete, but he was unable to keep up his level. Mayer won the remaining 2 sets by 6-2, 6-1, but Botzer played a very good match considering he is 700+ in the world rankings vs. a top 25er. The Israelis could not have asked for much more from their young guy in the opening rubber.
Some videos:
A point early in the match:
Argentina + Daft Punk:
After Botzer won the 2nd, the Israelis going crazy!- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sANikhalNgE
More dancing!
More Argentina singing:
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