The United States was the third top favorite to win the Davis Cup Finals behind Italy and Spain. However, their run in Malaga ended already in the quarter-finals against Australia despite being considered favorites by bookmakers.
Captain Bob Bryan had many solutions at his disposal and the American players were superior to the Australian ones on such a fast surface. Bob’s choices did not convince at all and condemned the USA to a shocking elimination.
Bryan decided to field Ben Shelton in the first singles, a player who was making his Davis Cup debut and who could struggle to handle the pressure. That’s exactly what happened. Shelton was defeated by Thanasi Kokkinakis in the decisive tiebreak and the situation got complicated.
Ben Shelton, Basel 2024© Stream screenshot
2024 US Open finalist Taylor Fritz played a great match against Alex de Minaur in the second singles and ‘forced’ the decisive doubles, where Bob Bryan made a truly shocking decision. Instead of using a very experienced pair like Austin Krajicek and Rajeev Ram, the United States captain chose Tommy Paul and Shelton who were defeated by Jordan Thompson and Matt Ebden in straight sets.
Bryan has been much criticized for his choices and many argue that he bears the greatest responsibility for the premature elimination of the United States in this edition of the Davis Cup Finals. In fact, the two decisions were not very logical and the players themselves do not seem to have understood them.
A serious mistake
Bob’s eagerness to be the protagonist was detrimental to his team, who had many chances of getting a great result in Malaga this year.
Top coach Paul Annacone reflected on Team USA’s shocking loss against Australia: “My choice would have been not putting Ben Shelton back out there
I love Ben he’s an awesome player, but in his first tie, to have a crushing loss like that, that close, and then Taylor Fritz wins his match and then totally having it riding on his shoulders again.
I think that’s a lot to ask, I wouldn’t have done that.
Whether you put Taylor with Tommy Paul, or the doubles specialists on is another conversation.
I just think it’s a really tough ask for Ben to do that after he’s lost that match like that.”
Annacone continued: “We’d be a little bit remiss in our responsibilities if we didn’t mention the fact that we have some information, we don’t have all of it.
Bob was there all week, saw every practice session, all the doubles between the guys playing because you have Rajeev Ram and Austin Krajicek playing practice matches with Tommy Paul and Ben.
Bob gets the feedback from the players, how they feel, has to weigh the matchup, who’s going to play well.”
Bob Bryan’s words
Despite the loss and the obvious mistake made during the tie, Bob did not take responsibility for what happened. Bryan defended his choice, which sparked great controversy among fans and insiders. Paul played great in doubles at the Paris Olympics this summer, but he couldn’t do much against two doubles specialists.
Shelton – on the other hand – has no experience in this competition and was still shocked by the defeat against Kokkinakis after a very hard battle. Ben has shown that he still struggles to manage a certain type of pressure and the choice to field him on the same day was certainly not a good one.
Ben Shelton, Shanghai Masters 2024© Stream screenshot
The common feeling is that the United States has really failed an important chance. With Spain’s untimely elimination on Day 1, the USA had even more chances to win the Davis Cup this year. Bryan will have to think about his choice to avoid making the same mistake in the future. However, the former doubles champion believes that his move was not so risky.
“Yeah, listen, as a captain, you have to make tough decisions. You know, I had a lot of information behind the decision. You know, we have been here for six days practicing. You know, we know how everyone is feeling, and we know a lot about the opponents that we’re playing. It’s a world of analytics” – Bob explained in his press conference.
“You talk amongst the other coaches. You talk with the players. Luckily my brother is here, we have Dean Goldfine, Kent Kinnear, a lot of great coaches. We get together and we make a tough decision. This wasn’t a black-and-white decision. It was razor-thin edge, you know, and we went with it. We knew it could have turned out like it did, because we’re playing a tough team. But like I said, I don’t regret anything about this” – he concluded.