Tebbutt: Two days to go

Wednesday is traditionally the last day when a Davis Cup team goes near top speed in practice, with Thursday being all about fine-tuning and tapering-down before things begin in earnest on Friday.

Milos Raonic and Frank Dancevic had a practice session (above) on the Thunderbird Sports Centre court on Wednesday morning. They worked on specific things for a while before playing some games.

As usual, Raonic’s coach Galo Blanco (below) was on court keeping a keen eye on his protégé.

In the early afternoon, Dancevic (below) was back on court hitting with Vasek Pospisil. They were going at it on a surface that most people think is not quite as fast as might have been expected. But that is still pretty well the way the big-hitting Raonic and his mates would like to have it. The Premier Court is brand new and will speed up the more it is played on this week.

On Thursday, the tie will come into clearer focus when the draw is held at noon PST at the Vancouver Lawn Tennis Club. It appears that there will be no surprises from the Canadian side with Raonic and Pospisil being the singles players.

Whether it is Jo-Wilfried Tsonga with Gael Monfils as the No. 2 French player (or Julien Benneteau or Michael Llodra), the main thing to come out of the draw will be who plays the first match at 2 p.m. PST (5 p.m. EST) on Friday.

Many think it would probably be best for Canada if No. 1 player Raonic faced French No. 2 Monfils followed by French No. 1 Tsonga versus Canadian No. 2 Pospisil.

But, since Pospisil (below) could be a better fit with Nestor in Saturday’s doubles based on their success in Canada’s last two Davis Cup victories over Ecuador and Israel, it might be preferable for him to play the first match Friday and be more rested for Saturday. Especially, because neither of the prospective French doubles pairing of Benneteau or Llodra are likely to play singles on Friday.

That French duo were playing doubles of a different variety before their practice session on Wednesday. Below Benneteau and Llodra (near side) are horsing around with a little soccer/tennis against team physio Cyril Brechbul and coach Lionel Roux.

There was a media session with Canadian captain Martin Laurendeau around midday and he confirmed that it will almost surely be Raonic and Pospisil for the two singles spots. “The guys are just putting the finishing touches on the preparation, so all is good,” he said. “So everything is according to the plan so far, no surprises so far.”

I had breakfast with Laurendeau on my first day here and he reflected on last year when he did not have a complete team for any of the ties. Basically, Nestor missed against Mexico in March, Raonic, Dancevic and Peter Polansky (there but injured) were not available for Ecuador in July and Raonic (still not 100 per cent healthy) as well as Philip Bester (injured) were not available or able to perform at their best versus Israel in September.

But Canada won all three ties. Hopefully, there will be no surprises this time like when Raonic got food poisoning two days before the tie began in Israel.

Looking ahead to the facing the French, Laurendeau said, “(Guy) Forget is a great captain, those guys have been in the semi-finals, the finals and won Davis Cups. So it’s great to have a chance to take down a power nation like that.

“There’s been a lot of hype this time – maybe more than ever – and that’s all good. Everything that’s happening this week and this weekend is all good for tennis. The tie will be broadcast across the country this weekend (Sportsnet and TVA Sports). It’s stirred a lot of positive interest. Regardless of what happens, a lot of kids are excited. That’s what you want. You want an impact on the next generation. If we can leave a mark in a positive way like that, we’re doing well.”

Nestor also met the media and answered the inevitable question about how he is able to keep going at 39 years old. He responded by saying that he is still very competitive, probably even more so than he was when he was younger. Actually, he said he wishes he had been more like he is now back in the day. That could have helped his singles but he still reached a career high of No. 58 (1999) and had wins over five players who have held the No. 1 ranking in singles – Stefan Edberg, Thomas Muster, Patrick Rafter, Marcelo Rios and Gustavo Kuerten. That would be six if you count the time Andre Agassi was defaulted for an audible obscenity against him in Indianapolis in 1996 while leading 6-1, 2-3.

Anyone who has been around the Canadian Davis Cup team will not be surprised by Nestor’s response to a question from a French reporter about how he gets along with some of his teammates who are almost a generation younger than him.

“I stay away from them as much as possible,” he joked. “No, I’m always pretty light-hearted and immature. I act like a kid a lot of the time. They probably think I’m the child on the team.

“They’re good guys and we have fun together. Frank (Dancevic) is a little bit older and has been around for about 10 years. It’s good to have the camaraderie.”

So, time is getting short before the first ball is hit in anger, and the personnel involved in the tie are gradually arriving in Vancouver, including the referee, Wayne McKewen. He has just finished his duties as referee of the Australian Open. In the picture below, he is wearing the grey hoodie.

OOPS… A MALAPROPISM

I think it’s an experience common to all reporters. You file a story and then a few hours later something clicks in your brain and you suddenly realize you have made a mistake.

I recall one year at Wimbledon after the men’s final during the Sampras era when I made an error that involved some stat related to John McEnroe. I was lying in bed trying to fall asleep but, with the time difference, I was able to tiptoe down through the house where I was staying and make a correction by phone at 2:30 a.m. because the Globe and Mail deadline was about 10 p.m. in Toronto.

Bringing this up to date – in yesterday’s blog I mentioned something about a young Daniel Nestor being “green-behind-the-ears.” Of course that should be either ‘green’ or ‘wet-behind-the-ears,’ referring to his youth and inexperience.

The more I thought about it, ‘green-behind-the-ears’ really doesn’t sound very nice at all!