Photos from the Davis Cup

         Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum fills Friday before

the opening rubber.

 

James Blake signs autographs for fans after warming up

on Friday.

Doubles partners and twins Bob Bryan (left) and Mike Bryan

faced off against Michael Llodra and Richard Clement in today’s rubber.

(photo credit Jennifer Hempel)

The US Davis Cup Team after defeating the French team in the quaterfinals.

The team will play Spain in the semifinals.

James Blake’s match on Sunday was marked by multiple appealed calls.

 

Richard Gasquet serves in Sunday’s rubber against James Blake.

Gasquet wasn’t set to play during the quaterfinals because of a blister on his hand,

but was substituted just before the last rubber.

 

 

Two NetHeads pose for fan’s pictures Sunday.

The US Davis Cup team cheers on James Blake during a close match,

while his brother Thomas Blake looks away nervously.

 

 

Superfans: The NetHeads

It is impossible to go to a Davis Cup event and not notice them, banging on bongos and cowbells between points. They’re the NetHeads and one look at them will let you know who they’re rooting for. Decked in red, white and blue with matching tennis nets wrapped around their heads, the group chants for the US team, replacing the Beatles’ “Hey Jude” with cries of “Andy” during Roddick’s match against Michael Llodra. 

This has been going on since Andy Roddick’s first Davis Cup, said Lucy Stuckey, a NetHead, from Richmond, Va.

“Jay Lashingler started this because his is a friend of John Roddick. They played on their college’s tennis team together. So the first time Andy played in a Davis Cup match, they decided to get dressed up and support him. And it just kind of grew from there,” she said.

And there aren’t only Americans among the ranks of the NetHeads.

“When we were in Vienna [for the Davis Cup's first round] there were people from Belgium, Russia, England and they all had their USA T-shirts on and nets on,” Stuckey said. “Almost everybody that’s here is from the US but whenever there’s a European match usually the Europeans outnumber the people from the United States.”

The group turned out to cheer Roddick and James Blake to victory in their singles’ matches yesterday, and are expected to return for Mike and Bob Bryan’s doubles match today.

Lucy Stuckey (right) and fellow NetHeads cheer on the USA team.

Roddick aces Llodra in quarterfinals opener

Andy Roddick played his cards right against Michael Llodra in this afternoon’s tie opener. And it’s good for the American team that those cards were aces – 30 of them. Roddick beat Llodra 6-4, 7-6 (3), 7-6 (5).

Llodra had his fair share of aces with 26 balls shooting past Roddick, but had difficulty returning Roddick’s serves.

“It’s very tough to return.  So I do my best.  I try to move,” said Llodra at a press conference this afternoon.

Roddick is scheduled to play on Sunday against Mathieu but Llodra doesn’t get a break at all. He is scheduled to play in tomorrow’s doubles match with Arnaud Clement against American doubles team Mike and Bob Bryan. 

Did you know? The Davis Cup competition between two teams is called a tie. A match between two players is called a rubber.