Davis Cup Betting / Sean Calvert / 04 March 2010 /

It's Davis Cup time again, which for Britain means the perennial embarrassing struggle against such fine tennis nations as Uzbekistan, Burkina Faso and this week Lithuania. Sean Calvert selects the best bets from the best ties.

While a Murray-less GB scrap it out in Vilnius for the right to play Ireland or Turkey, there is some proper tennis being played elsewhere and this is the pick of the weekend's action.

Serbia [1.2] v USA [6.0]

Serbia and the United States meet in the Davis Cup for the very first time and this looks a tough assignment for the US to be pitching in a couple of rookies.

Andy Roddick and James Blake, who have been pretty much the mainstays of the US team for a number of years have both opted to take this year off from Davis Cup duty and have been replaced by debutant John Isner and Sam Querrey, who has played in one tie so far. Roddick's trainers have reportedly told him that changing playing surfaces regularly will cause further damage to his suspect knee, while Blake may not have been selected in any case, such has been his rankings plunge of late.

This means that Serbia are a pretty warm order at around [1.2] at home in Belgrade on clay and with world number two Novak Djokovic heading up their team. Djokovic is joined by the mercurial talents of Janko Tipsarevic and Viktor Troicki and they should have too much on the red dirt for Isner and Querrey.

Both Americans traveled to Acapulco to play on the clay there last week and both lost in the first round, although Querrey took a set off Fernando Gonzalez, and the pair have poor records on the dirt as you would expect from their playing styles. Isner is 3-5 in Tour level events on clay, while Querrey is 6-16, so the team's chances rest largely with the Bryan brothers winning the doubles and hoping that Tipsarevic and Troicki are off the pace.

That said, Djokovic doesn't have the best of records on clay in the Davis Cup - he holds just a 5-4 winning record and he lost in straights to David Ferrer in the opening rubber against Spain in his last appearance.

I can't see Isner troubling the scorers in Belgrade, but Querrey might nick one and the Bryan's are unbeaten on clay, so a 3-2 Serbia win looks a decent shout.

France [1.20] v Germany [6.0]

Since France and Germany first played each other in the Davis Cup in 1913, the two nations have met six times, with the French having the upper hand at 5-2 overall. This weekend they meet in Toulon on indoor hard courts and the hosts will fancy their chances of inflicting another defeat upon their neighbours.

The German team looks weak, as would any side that relied mainly on Phillip Kohlschreiber to deliver the goods. He actually has a decent record in Davis Cup, having won seven of his 10 rubbers, but if Kohlschreiber isn't on one of his good days the back-up players are Benjamin Becker and Simon Greul, which doesn't inspire confidence.

Becker is in desperate form these days and to give you an idea of his current level, the only wins he's posted in 2010 (not including retirements) have been over Andreas Vinciguerra, Grega Zemlja, Tim Smyczek and Kei Nishikori.

Poor stuff indeed and with the final member of the team, Greul, being a dedicated member of the clay court appreciation society, the chances of Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Gael Monfils, Michael Llodra and Julien Benneateu losing are quite slim. All of the aforementioned French players, with the exception of Monfils, are in form and at home on indoor hard they look good to win 4-1.

Chile [1.15] v Israel [6.5]

If you fancy a long-shot this weekend this might be the clash for you. Chile were almost relegated without Fernando Gonzalez in 2009 and had to beat Austria in a play-off to retain their World Group status, which they just about did, emerging 3-2 winners.

With Gonzo back in the team they should win this, but Israel are a tight unit and made it all the way to the semi-finals last year before losing to eventual champions Spain, so they are not to be underestimated.

The Israel side as ever consists of Dudi Sela, Harel Levy, Jonathan Erlich and Andy Ram and they will be typically strong in the doubles, while Sela and Levy are often inspired in the singles. Gonzalez will not have forgotten his five set defeat to Sela in the fourth rubber of Israel's 3-2 win over Chile in Davis Cup and despite Sela's rotten 2010 form, neither will he.

Levy is something of a dark horse in this competition and his Davis Cup win/loss record is an impressive 20-12, including 9-2 on clay. In his last four matches, Levy has beaten Igor Andreev, Igor Kunitsyn and Feliciano Lopez before a loss to Ferrer and that sort of form will test Chile's lesser lights and possibly Gonzalez himself.

Nicolas Massu, Paul Capdeville and Jorge Aguilar make up the rest of the Chile team, which explains why they struggled without their main man last year. Capdeville has a distinctly average 6-8 record in Davis Cup, while Aguilar is yet to play and is ranked world number 223 in singles and 436 in doubles, so don't expect much from those two.

This tie could depend on the performance of Massu, who tends to play above himself in Davis Cup, but not always. He has a 21-9 record in singles and a good showing from him should be enough for the hosts in front of their vociferous fans, but it's worth taking a chance on Israel at such a big price to cause an upset.

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