Analysis for Czech Republic–Switzerland (Davis Cup)

For today´s pick we chose the Davis cup play-offs battle between Czech Republic and Switzerland. Czech no.2 Radek Stepanek makes the toughest return to Davis Cup action as he will face possibly the best player of all time and 12-time Grand Slam champion, the world number 1 Roger Federer in the opening match. Federer doesn’t like Stepanek´s aggressive style of play and even when he leads 3:1 in their head-to-head meetings, three of these matches were really closed and Swiss no 1 admitted that Stepanek´s style is not convenient for him. Stepanek is currently playing in a great shape and he is full of confidence saying “I remember, of course, that I beat him, and especially I remember how I beat him, so hopefully it will give me the confidence I need to do it again”. The Czech no. 1 Tomas Berdych has managed to beat Federer in the second round of the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens and he added “It’s good to know that I can beat him and to know that he is human just like me”. We think that Stepanek is even in a bit better form than Berdych and the ultra fast indoor surface in Prague is a big advantage for him. That is why we think he is not without chance against Federer in the first match. However, the Czechs will surely focus on winning their rubbers over Wawrinka, and put their all into winning Saturday’s doubles. The official line-up for the Saturday´s match is Damm/Dlouhy – Federer/Allegro but we are sure that the Czech coach Navratil will send Radek Stepanek into the doubles battle as well. Both Damm and Dlouhy are excellent double players and we can rate them among the world class but Stepanek is also a great player for doubles and he is well coordinated with Martin Damm as they have been playing together for a long time. So we expect this change will be made in the official line-up and Stepanek will probably replace Lukas Dlouhy on Saturday. However, Czechs are better double players and they will be the favourites against Federer/Allegro. Provided both Berdych and Stepanek will defeat Wawrinka and Stepanek/Damm should overplay Federer/Allegro, we think that Czech Republic´s odds are just too high.