Bill Simons
Reno
The gang of six – a Fish, a Fritz, a Sock, a Ram, a Paul and a Seb (that would be US Davis Cup captain Mardy Fish, the No. 1 American Taylor Fritz, veterans Jack Sock and Rajeev Ram, Tommy Paul and Seb Korda) all headed for the biggest little city in the world with just one thing in mind: revenge.
After all, just three months ago the biggest little tennis power in South America, Colombia, handed the mighty United States of America a humbling Davis Cup loss in Turin, Italy.
Never mind that the US has 330 million people, 22 million tennis players, 32 Davis Cups in its trophy case and a glistening history of Slam champs and Number One’s. Colombia – population 51 million, with no singles Slams winners – relishes taking it to the big boys.
Sure, a top 100 Colombian tennis player is about as common as a perfectly toasted arepa in Reno. When it comes to tennis, Colombia may be more famous for the dazzling dance performance Shakira staged at the 2019 Davis Cup Final in Madrid or the macho pitchman Juan Valdez and his wonderful coffee, long a US Open sponsor. (Note to Starbucks: at the 1995 US Open, the Colombian coffee federation gave out 200,000 cups of free coffee.)
Yet Colombia is a tennis giant slayer. Their Davis Cup team is 2-2 against the US.
But there was a problem. Colombia’s No. 1 player, Daniel Elahi Galán, No. 112, was out with an injury and Colombia had a line-up with many little-known players.
But American Seb Korda, 21, knew his opponent in the first round of the tie well. He and Nicolas Mejia, 22, not only both lived in Miami, they played, practiced and traveled together as juniors.
Since then they’ve traveled in different directions. Korda made a deep run at the Miami Open, and set records with an early run at the French Open. He reached the second week of Wimbledon and shot up to No. 38. Mejia struggled. He reached a minor league final, but didn’t win a single tour level match or a Davis Cup match and was mired at No. 265. On cue, Korda showed us why James Blake said he’d be America’s next male Grand Slam champ.
The fluid 6’ 5” Floridian, whose dad Petr was No. 2 in the world and in his day scored an epic Davis Cup win for Czechoslovakia over the US, quickly showed the lyrical power of his game with an onslaught of groundie winners that earned him an early break, enough for him to take the first set 6-4. What gambler at the nearby casinos would now bet on the Colombian kid, who didn’t seem to have any weapons to bother Korda?
But Davis Cup is a different tennis animal, and Colombia has a Davis Cup thing. Their captain, Alejandro Falla, who once gave Roger Federer a mighty tussle at Wimbledon, said, “For any Colombian athlete, it’s all about passion. That’s what we did in Turin…All these guys, they want to go out there and try to win every point.”
This was Mejia’s fourth Davis Cup match. He had match points against Frances Tiafoe last November. Plus, he’d practiced with Korda hundreds of times. He knew Seb’s game well and had beaten him in an ITF match in Turkey.
Seb finished off the first set, winning the closing game at love and then broke in the first game of the second set. This will be easy, right?
But the match turned in a flash. America’s young tennis genius was now less than Seb-sational. Korda’s serve went off the rails. He lost his rhythm. When he got some really bad calls, he didn’t seem to fire up. It’s not easy for a power player to perform in high altitudes (over 4,505’ in Reno). As Seb’s shots sailed, the Colombian set sail, breaking Korda’s serve time and again.
Incredibly, Nicho, who wasn’t able to hurt Korda in the first set, was suddenly fist-pumping and playing great defense. Seb was winning only 30% of his first serve points. Mejia, with a fiery look in his eyes, reeled off six games in a row to take the second set 6-1.
America’s cheerleaders, with their red pom-poms and USA chants, were silent. Ace, our eagle mascot, stopped soaring. All the red, white and blue patriots in the Reno Events Center were in shock.
Captain Fish later said that Mejia “was playing, top 20, top 30 tennis…the guy’s a total gamer, he tries his butt off…I’d tell him he could play for me any time.”
For the moment, the question loomed: would Colombia again bring the US down?
But Korda knew that aggressive tennis can implode fast. He told himself to keep pushing. Fish (whom Korda was a ballboy for many times) calmed him. The clang of cowbells and drums encouraged him. Seb told himself, “When my chance comes, I’ll grab it.”
The third set was close. “There’s no shortage of tight tennis here,” said one voice in the press room. Digging deep from within, Korda blasted three aces to go up 5-4 – one game from victory. Now it was Mejia who felt the pressure. Seb hit one of his brilliant down-the-line winners. A Mejia forehand flew long, giving Korda a 6-4, 1-6, 6-4 win.
Seb beamed in delight. The bound-for-glory kid, who’s known for his sensible one-step-at-a-time approach, had claimed his first Davis Cup win. What a relief. And America’s No. 1 player, Taylor Fritz, took it from there.
US Davis Cup history has a long tradition of sustained leaders: Agassi, Roddick, the Bryans and Isner. Now it might be Fritz’s turn. Playing his fourth tie, the San Diego native with a mighty power game absolutely demolished Alejandro Gonzalez, a 33-year-old ranked No. 453 who once won a set off of Djokovic. It took him just 53 minutes. “Today,” said Gonzalez, “I felt like no hope.”
Tomorrow, Jack Sock and Rajeev Ram will have to face the formidable team of Robert Farrah and Juan Sebastian Cabal, who won Wimbledon and the US Open and were No. 1 the world. Still, as snow fell on Reno outside, inside, hopes rose. After all, by day’s end, the gang of six – a Fish, a Fritz, a Sock, a Ram, a Paul and a Seb – did just what they’d wanted to do. They had a commanding 2-0 lead.
