Davis Cup QF

Day 2

Spain:Austria 4:1
France:USA 2:3
Czech Republic:Serbia 4:1
Croatia:Argentina 1:4


All matches played on clay!

USA to play Spain, Czech republic to play Argentina

Just finished watching a brilliant 5 set match between Stepanek & Tipsarevic

After a great fight, Tipsarevic won in the 5th set, after 5 hours of playing on a badly prepared indoor clay court (Troicki joked in the press-conference, calling in a new surface: mud)

At the end of the match, an unprescendented incident occurred:
Stepanek refused to shake hands with Tipsarevic. Tipsarevic offered the hand Stepanek showed him the middle finger instead.

Tipsy nearly lost it and went towards the Czech bench for a fistfight, but the captain managed to pull him away and calm him down.

In his on-court interview, Tipsarevic went into more details, shaken and livid.

I always thought Stepanek was a dirty little player, this just cements it. Utter disgrace.

That's interesting, any idea what annoyed Stepanek, apart from losing?

Henman Bill wrote:That's interesting, any idea what annoyed Stepanek, apart from losing?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hKNU2xBUQ5U

They do not show the specific moment, but this should give you some idea.

PS: Stepanek had 3 MPs, which may be the cause of the frustration.

Have been trying to find out what happened. From what I've seen Stepanek shook Tipsarevics hand but Tipsarevic refused to shake the Czech captains hand.

laverfans linked video shows this. The Czech captain makes an effort to shake hands and I think its the Serb captain who trys to get Tipsarevic to shake after he refuses but he shrugs him off.

It would be interesting to know what caused all the bad feeling and exactly what happened...

It's a competitive sport, Tipsy should just man up and quit whining. He won, didn't he? What's the problem!

P.S. I am amazed that a certain self proclaimed un politically correct and unshockable poster is "outraged" by this minor little incident between players. I suppose when a Serbian tennis player suffers some incredibly minor slight the whole world must take notice. Yaaaaaaawn.

I think something must of been said rather than the gesture going by this
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yw1kf2nmr3A

But Stepanek is known to be unsporting, he had the whole crowd against him when playing Nadal, hardly that shocking!

http://www.pressonline.rs/sr/sport/najnovije_vesti/story/213407/%C5%A0tepanek%20pokazao%20srednji%20prst%20Janku.html

But I need to hear from Stepanek about this incident.

You can see the middle finger at the still shot towards the end of the clip

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ETDcg7McIMg

oops wrong finger

I think Tipsy should stop being so thin skinned and spineless about this. Surely he could have returned the sentiment to Stepanek in a much cleverer way, with interest?

reckoner wrote: Surely he could have returned the sentiment to Stepanek in a much cleverer way, with interest?

Like what? A hug after the handshake with a double _l_ on Stepanek's back??

Lol yeah that probably would have done the trick rotla....

https://twitter.com/#!/TipsarevicJanko/status/188564376637292544/photo/1

Not exactly good sportsmanship.

Meh twitter still full of attention-seekers and their non events.

Stepanek used to be much more sporting:

http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2011/06/09/article-2001693-0C7D719200000578-627_634x416.jpg

I wonder what Tipsy said to provoke him?

noleisthebest wrote:Just finished watching a brilliant 5 set match between Stepanek & Tipsarevic

After a great fight, Tipsarevic won in the 5th set, after 5 hours of playing on a badly prepared indoor clay court (Troicki joked in the press-conference, calling in a new surface: mud)

At the end of the match, an unprescendented incident occurred:
Stepanek refused to shake hands with Tipsarevic. Tipsarevic offered the hand Stepanek showed him the middle finger instead.

Tipsy nearly lost it and went towards the Czech bench for a fistfight, but the captain managed to pull him away and calm him down.

In his on-court interview, Tipsarevic went into more details, shaken and livid.

I always thought Stepanek was a dirty little player, this just cements it. Utter disgrace.

Hi NITB, I was there and enjoyed this really exciting match. I could not see the hands shaking, but can say that Stepanek is known for his
freaky emotional gushes, so I am not surprised by his "finger" incident. Very poor

paulcz wrote:

noleisthebest wrote:Just finished watching a brilliant 5 set match between Stepanek & Tipsarevic

After a great fight, Tipsarevic won in the 5th set, after 5 hours of playing on a badly prepared indoor clay court (Troicki joked in the press-conference, calling in a new surface: mud)

At the end of the match, an unprescendented incident occurred:
Stepanek refused to shake hands with Tipsarevic. Tipsarevic offered the hand Stepanek showed him the middle finger instead.

Tipsy nearly lost it and went towards the Czech bench for a fistfight, but the captain managed to pull him away and calm him down.

In his on-court interview, Tipsarevic went into more details, shaken and livid.

I always thought Stepanek was a dirty little player, this just cements it. Utter disgrace.

Hi NITB, I was there and enjoyed this really exciting match. I could not see the hands shaking, but can say that Stepanek is known for his
freaky emotional gushes, so I am not surprised by his "finger" incident. Very poor

good to hear the first-hand match experience!

I waned to see a 5th competitive match today, but Tips just couldn't find the right balance between his usual aggression and patient play.
I suspect he chose the safe play just so he could live with himself later in case anything went wrong, but his best points were the ones in which he went for Berdych.

As for Stepanek, what can one say....it was a great match tennis-wise.....

Are the Czechs playing Argentina at home or away?

I really see that you know not only these players' games pretty well

Tips played both matches against Stepanek and Berdych with patience. I even suspected him to play with Stepanek as longer as possible just to get him exhausted for saturday's double and sunday. Tipsy game is much better when he goes for the balls. But he was more careful than he should be. In the end Tipsy had a luck to win the match with Stepanek after facing 3 MPs. Some balls in the end of the match were just only to avoid a mistake. Stepanek was absolutely broken up after the match.

Berdych played very good match. The difference was first serve and Berdych' s better composure in TBs which goes in hand with loud home crowds. The third TB was quite lucky for Berdych. Two netted balls and clear corner which Tipsy let it go in a surprise. I wanted to see 5 sets, so was dissapointed.
So, Czechs won deservedly due to Tomas Berdych.

I am not sure if Stepanek is able to play 5 set top matches next year, so we have a last chance to win DC this year (he will be 34 years). Czechs play in Argentina, and it is a pity. The chance that Czechs can win it is minimal, just in case that DelPo will be injured. I would say 20:80 in favour of Argentina.

Only dissapointment is that Novak took holidays and did not play this weekend

paulcz wrote:
I am not sure if Stepanek is able to play 5 set top matches next year, so we have a last chance to win DC this year (he will be 34 years). Czechs play in Argentina, and it is a pity. The chance that Czechs can win it is minimal, just in case that DelPo will be injured. I would say 20:80 in favour of Argentina.

Berdych and Stepanek have been very dedicated towards playing DC for years now. I also see them play on all 3 days on many occasions. In my opinion Delpo is no certain to beat Berdych and Stepanek. He sure can beat anyone but he isn't very solid in his play. I saw how Ferrer beat him at Miami so convincingly that he was ahead of delpo in every stat of the match, including ones you wouldn't expect i.e. no. of aces. He lost to Granollers ( no weapons, ugly play) last year end in Valencia semis I think. Delpo is a good player, yet his game is not that solid. So I have no doubt that if Berdy brings his good game, he will be able to beat delpo. Berdych's A game is lethal against anyone. He is weak in mind which can a make a difference.

Stepanek is no mug. Plus they both make a good doubles pair as well.

So don't count out Czech's chances just yet.

An early semi-final preview:

http://www.tennis.com/articles/templates/features.aspx?articleid=17176&zoneid=9

I like Stepanek; he plays a good game and doesn't pander to what people expect him to do.

Did Tipsarevic do something to annoy him? In any case Tipsy should man up and not start.whining over a little thing like this.

Not sure what all the fuss is about. Being a former footballer I was subjected to name calling, being spat at and even attempted career ending tackles.

When I played tennis I haven't yet been on the receiving end of any unpleasantry hand gestures or language.

If Tipsy wanted to respond, he should've said "That is the finger Nicole prefers"

raiders_of_the_lost_ark wrote:

paulcz wrote:
I am not sure if Stepanek is able to play 5 set top matches next year, so we have a last chance to win DC this year (he will be 34 years). Czechs play in Argentina, and it is a pity. The chance that Czechs can win it is minimal, just in case that DelPo will be injured. I would say 20:80 in favour of Argentina.

Berdych and Stepanek have been very dedicated towards playing DC for years now. I also see them play on all 3 days on many occasions. In my opinion Delpo is no certain to beat Berdych and Stepanek. He sure can beat anyone but he isn't very solid in his play. I saw how Ferrer beat him at Miami so convincingly that he was ahead of delpo in every stat of the match, including ones you wouldn't expect i.e. no. of aces. He lost to Granollers ( no weapons, ugly play) last year end in Valencia semis I think. Delpo is a good player, yet his game is not that solid. So I have no doubt that if Berdy brings his good game, he will be able to beat delpo. Berdych's A game is lethal against anyone. He is weak in mind which can a make a difference.

Stepanek is no mug. Plus they both make a good doubles pair as well.

So don't count out Czech's chances just yet.

Agree, we have a chance to win it if DelPo will be not in his top form. Then there is a doubt if Stepanek is able to play all three days. There is no alternative except Berdych with Stepanek for the double. Argentina has extra chance to win DC this year, they would play the final with Spain at home. If Czechs win, then we play the final with Spain at home as well. That would be a chance to win it if Spain would play without Nadull.

What about Stepanek? I like his game more than him. He has really an excellent net game. I see him playing doubles untill his 40. Not sure if his health is good enough to allows him to play singles on the top level since next year.
Berdych's game is always the same, a monotonous ground flat strokes without any variability, no drop shots, nearly no transition to the net. Even though he is in his top, still not enough to bother the top 4. He got improved the volleying and returning. He was the best player in double on Saturday, better than Stepanek.

legendkillarV2 wrote:Not sure what all the fuss is about. Being a former footballer I was subjected to name calling, being spat at and even attempted career ending tackles.

When I played tennis I haven't yet been on the receiving end of any unpleasantry hand gestures or language.

If Tipsy wanted to respond, he should've said "That is the finger Nicole prefers"

There was not only this finger, he said supposedly something like "stinking p...."

bogbrush wrote:I like Stepanek; he plays a good game and doesn't pander to what people expect him to do.

Did Tipsarevic do something to annoy him? In any case Tipsy should man up and not start.whining over a little thing like this.

I can not say that Tipsy did something really unfair.
In the first set Tipsy very probably played a ball after double contacts and it was judged as a good one. Then there was one disputable ball judged as out and Tipsy rubbed off its trace right away before checking.
He was the most of the match better player but at the end he was lucky. Stepanek was very close.

Tipsy is one of the biggest brats on court, which is why Stepa had no problem in being rude to him, Tipsy retired in a final when his opponent only needed 2 more games to claim the title, he's a very dysfunctional character.

Vamos Stepa!

Stepanek is a goofy clown, I have never been a fan of his cheap antics on court and well this is not a highlight of his career that is for sure. But either way it is fun to have some controversy and a bit of bad blood here and there in a sporting matchup.

Got to love the French getting upset by the USA, how far has US tennis fallen that we have to celebrate a semi berth against spain. But got to hand it to Isner he is becoming a great big match player who really knows how to do what he has to do to win a close match. Harrison as well did a good job playing on his least favorite surface and in a hostile environment. The enigma of JO willy Tsonga continues.