USA's Davis Cup captain, Bob Bryan, has faced strong criticism for playing Ben Shelton and Tommy Paul at last week's finals, but Andrea Petkovic defended the move by mentioning Jannik Sinner and Matteo Berrettini.
Team USA faced Australia in the quarterfinals of the Davis Cup Finals. Since No. 1 singles player Taylor Fritz was always going to be chosen for the second singles match, Bryan had a choice between Shelton and Paul.
Shelton's firepower was chosen, but that did not work out as hoped. Despite holding four match points, Thanasi Kokkinakis dramatically defeated him to give Australia a 1-0 lead in the tie.
Fritz played superbly in the other singles match to level the tie and force a decider. Most expected Bryan to choose his specialist doubles team of Austin Krajicek and Rajeev Ram, who won silver medals in the men's doubles at this year's Olympics.
Instead, Bryan picked Shelton and Paul. That move did not work, and Matthew Ebden and Jordan Thomspon triumphed in straight sets to book Australia's place in the semifinals.
Bryan, one half of the legendary Bryan Brothers doubles team, caused outrage among some by ignoring his doubles specialists and putting more faith in a team that had never played together.
Petkovic was more sympathetic to Bryan. In an episode of The Rennae Stubbs Podcast, the German mentioned that Team Italy's captain chose Sinner and Berrettini over doubles specialists, and they won.
"I saw the controversy and I see the point. This might sound really surprising but I will defend Bob Bryan. The reason that I have for it is Jannik Sinner and Matteo Berrettini. So basically Italy did exactly the same thing on the same day and it worked out."
"Yes, they didn’t play the best doubles in the world but they played a top ten pairing in Argentina and they took out Andrea Vavassori and Simone Bolelli who were qualified at the ATP Masters, so they were one of the best pairs."
"They did exactly the same thing and it worked out. They won. Jannik Sinner and Matteo Berrettini never f***ing played doubles in their lives together, never played doubles at all and they beat a good doubles pair. So it works out."
Not only did Petkovic defend Bryan, but she agreed with his decision. The respected analyst believes Bryan was right to hang his hopes on Shelton having an excellent serving day to beat a quality duo like Ebden and Thompson.
"I understand completely Bob Bryan's decision because I don’t think Rajeev Ram and [Austin] Krajicek would have beaten the Australian pair either. I think you have a bigger chance if [Ben] Shelton closes his eyes and has a crazy good serve day."
"I think you have a better chance to somehow get in the tiebreak and hope one of the Aussie’s chokes. I think that’s a bigger chance than having Rajeev Ram and [Austin] Krajicek.""
"I understood his [Bob Bryan's] reasoning behind it. I don’t think he explained it well, I think he didn’t want to explain it after having lost but I could understand where he was coming from and I thought the piling on was a little unfair even though I completely understand where it comes from ‘cause you have to back your doubles players.""
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