There has been a lot of criticism on the captain of the United States Bob Bryan, especially regarding the choices he made that led to the disappointing elimination against Australia in the quarterfinals of the Davis Cup Finals.
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The first criticism made by fans and insiders concerned the presence of Ben Shelton and the absence of Tommy Paul in the singles match against Thanasi Kokkinakis. The 22-year-old from Atlanta does not seem to be fully prepared from a tactical point of view. The same cannot be said of Tommy Paul, one of the most intelligent players on Tour.
The choice that turned out to be completely wrong, however, concerns the doubles. Bryan opted for Shelton and Paul, relegating to the bench a solid and close-knit pair like that formed by Rajeev Ram and Austin Krajicek. Matthew Ebden and Jordan Thompson handled the match without too much trouble and won the decisive point to take Australia to the semifinals of the Davis Cup.
"We knew we were going to face a very tough team, today Australia played phenomenally and I take my hat off to them. I'm proud of my players for giving everything on the court, it was a very hard-fought match in every sense," Bryan said in a press conference.
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The former American legend then talked more in depth about the choices made in doubles: "We have an experienced team in Ram and Krajicek. In this case it was a last-minute decision and I don't regret it. I was hoping to surprise our opponents, but they were ready. Between one match and the other we have fifteen minutes to talk about the matches, and that's when I made the decision. It was a tactical question to surprise them, we tried. As a captain you have to make difficult decisions. I have no regrets."
Australia will play today against Italy in the semifinal, in what will be a remetch of last season final. The team which will win the challenge will face Netherlands in the 2024 final of the lats tennis event of the season.
