Juan Martin del Potro Leads Argentina with Davis Cup Winners and Losers
Team Argentina pulled off an upset over host-country Croatia to win the nation’s first Davis Cup tennis title. The drama was keyed by a five-set comeback thriller by superstar Juan Martin del Potro and a fifth-rubber masterclass from Federico Delbonis.
It was everything that a Davis Cup final could produce. There was an important player omission that proved costly for Croatia, a repeated coaching blunder from Argentina and excellent tennis from stars and unheralded players.
For Argentina, it's not going to fill the disappointment of losing the FIFA World Cup final to Germany in summer 2014, but it's a nice consolation.
Find out how they finally triumphed for the ultimate team prize in tennis in our special Davis Cup final edition of “Winners and Losers.”
Winner: Friday's Thrilling Rubbers
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Friday’s opening day of Davis Cup action was everything as advertised and more: two rubbers that totaled about seven hours of tennis. Ultimately, Croatia’s Marin Cilic and Argentina’s Del Potro held their No. 1 positions and sent Friday’s drama into an intriguing doubles match on Saturday.
Cilic was cruising in the first rubber but got pounded 6-3, 6-1 in the third and fourth sets by strong lefty Federico Delbonis, who has world-class talent but can be inconstant as the fickle moon. Eventually, Cilic buckled down to close out the fifth set and escape what would have probably been a 0-2 hole for Croatia.
That’s because Del Potro cut down serving specialist Ivo Karlovic in four long sets. He got three breaks of serve and did not give a single look at a breakpoint on his own serve.
Most importantly of all, Del Potro’s superior ground game produced 31 forced errors and 48 unforced errors from Karlovic. Del Potro was pushed into 24 forced errors but had only 19 unforced errors.
It was an exhausting but great day for Davis Cup tennis, and it provided thrilling memories before the eventual outcome on Sunday.
Loser: Argentine Captain Daniel Orsanic
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Argentine captain Daniel Orsanic likes to stick with his plow horse, but once again he put his squad in a tough position. Orsanic tapped singles star Del Potro to play doubles with Leonardo Mayer—a fairly marginal doubles player—and they lost to a superior and successful Croatian duo of Ivan Dodig and Cilic.
The risk for Argentina was that it could have worn down Del Potro, who had to come into the Sunday reverse singles match against the No. 6 Cilic and against a hostile Croatian crowd.
Orsanic should have learned from this failed thinking in September’s debacle against Great Britain.
Then, Del Potro, who had come off an emotional victory over Andy Murray on Friday, was tapped to play doubles on Saturday in a losing effort. Consequently, Del Potro was unable to play Sunday because of injury, and they needed a valiant effort from Mayer to win the clincher. They escaped with victory and dodged Great Britain’s comeback from an 0-2 deficit.
Ironically, Cilic was the player who ran out of gas when Del Potro was able to rally from a two-set deficit for the first time in his career. But Cilic was essential to winning the doubles tie, and the Croatians had followed this blueprint before. Perhaps Cilic's lengthy November and trip to London for the World Tour Finals was why he played more tired down the stretch.
So, Del Potro and Orsanic escaped despite the latter's coaching blunder. Orsanic dodged a bullet, but that doesn't mean short-sighted wins don't belong on “loser” slides.
Winner: Double Trouble with Ivan Dodig and Marin Cilic
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The edge for the Croatian squad turned out to be the dynamic duo of Cilic and Dodig. They powered their way to a gritty straight-sets victory in Saturday’s doubles showdown against Del Potro and Mayer.
The big superstar Cilic and the shorter, stocky Dodig are a formidable combination that serve and close out the net with their athleticism.
Their brilliance together was planted in July’s comeback victory over the United States, when they overwhelmed the fabled Bryan brothers. They followed that up in September’s semifinals with a great win against one of the best doubles team in the world in France’s Pierre Hugues-Herbert and Nicolas Mahut.
Their victory Saturday featured two tiebreaker wins, and it put them on the brink of their first Davis Cup since 2005. It just wasn't enough to help them to victory on Sunday.
Loser: Borna Coric Unable to Play in the Final Tie
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If Croatia’s Davis Cup squad looked a little different in November, their fans will not forget that they arrived in large part because of 20-year-old Borna Coric. The young star showed his mettle in two fifth-rubber deciders this year, defeating Belgium and the United States in the first round and quarterfinals, respectively.
Unfortunately, Coric suffered a knee injury and had surgery in September, and although his recovery was good, he was not selected by captain Zeljko Krajan to play in the final tie.
“It was a really tough decision to take Borna off the team," Krajan said, per the Davis Cup website. "He’s very important for this team, but unfortunately he has not recovered, and he is just not ready. "He was trying, he was pushing, he was really trying to be ready but it’s impossible for him to play."
Instead, Krajan gave the nod to aging ace king Karlovic, who is nearly twice Coric’s age. Karlovic gave a valiant effort with a four-set loss to Del Potro in the second rubber on Friday, but he was no match for a hot Delbonis in the fifth rubber.
Would Coric have made the difference for Croatia? We'll never know because his injury had taken him out of the past couple months. If he had been healthy and playing behind the cheering partisan crowd, Coric's superior baseline strokes and defense would have been a favorite against Delbonis, and his big-match play might have landed the cup for the home country.
Winner: Crowd Support on Both Sides
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It was a given that host country Croatia would mass together, toot their horns and inject passionate energy to support their Davis Cup heroes. Throughout the weekend, fans waved flags and walked around in their red and white-checkered colors.
Though fewer in numbers, the Argentine supporters were collectively vociferous as if atoning for the 2014 FIFA World Cup final. Their light blue and white stripes bobbed up and down when their stars earned grinding points or spectacular winners.
Although Davis Cup play is off the beaten path of the ATP tour, there is plenty of grassroots tradition that exemplifies the spirit of tennis.
Loser: Marin Cilic
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Forget about blaming Karlovic for losing the fifth and deciding rubber, or losing both of his rubbers for that matter. It never should have come to that.
How could Cilic falter right when he had put his country on the brink of capturing the Davis Cup? He had the Croatian crowd and a two-set lead on Del Potro. It was time to close the door on Argentina and lock up the Davis Cup title.
Except that Cilic dropped the final three sets for an historic 6-7(4), 2-6, 7-5, 6-4, 6-3 loss. It’s more than a little bewildering. Cilic had over twice as many aces and winners, was more dominant with his forehand and backhand and finished four times as many shots at net. Somehow he lost because tennis is often about when players win those crucial big points.
Cilic’s loss was the first time Del Potro has come back from two sets down to win, while historically the Argentine falters with fatigue or gets outplayed against other stars. Prior to his comeback in 2016, he had a paltry four wins in 13 matches that went five sets.
Meanwhile, Cilic had a sparkling career 23-9 record in five setters prior to 2016 but has been zapped three times in 2016. He blew two-set advantages against Roger Federer in the quarterfinals at Wimbledon and then a week later in the Davis Cup quarterfinals first rubber against American Jack Sock. These kinds of losses can pile up on the mentality of a player, and the doubt creeps in.
It's tough that this loss will be remembered more than his epic win in the first rubber and his doubles victory with Dodig. He battled but came up short when Croatia needed him for three points.
Winner: Juan Martin del Potro
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What more can be said about Del Potro’s five-set victory over Cilic? The Argentine posted another huge win that ranks right up there with defeating Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic in Davis Cup and Olympics competition, respectively.
He closed 2016 by knocking back the favored Cilic playing with a two-sets lead and overcoming oppositional crowd noise. He willed his team to the Davis Cup title with two singles victories and an effort to play doubles, albeit in a losing affair.
It’s further evidence that Del Potro could be ready to win a major title in 2017, so long as he remains healthy and able to compete with the energy, heart and talent that he showed in leading Argentina.
It’s a dream come true for a superstar who has suffered career-threatening wrist injuries. A year ago, nobody could have imagined this weekend’s result.
Winner: Federico Delbonis
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How many tennis fans are aware of southpaw Delbonis, who has quietly turned into a stalwart Davis Cup hero? In the past two years, the Argentine has been a clutch performer with a 5-3 singles record, including the decisive Davis Cup title clincher over Croatia’s Karlovic.
Delbonis has been more renowned as a clay-courter who can pound away with anyone on his best days, which are not often enough for an underachieving No. 40 ranking.
He not only dealt Karlovic and Croatia the death blow, but he did his part in the first rubber to extend Cilic to five sets and three-and-a-half hours—which was no doubt a factor in the Croatian star’s collapse in the fourth rubber and that on the heels of a doubles victory the day before.
Had Delbonis rolled over for Cilic in straight sets, perhaps Cilic would have polished off Del Potro and Delbonis would never have got the chance to clinch the Davis Cup for Argentina.
It’s a remarkable victory, and it would seem that the 26-year-old Delbonis should be ready to get on a roll and charge toward the top 20.
Maybe, but the ATP tour is not Davis Cup. He can get up for his country in short bursts, but the year-long grind in big brackets has not brought out this same level.
Nevertheless, well done for what could be his defining career highlight.
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