HEAD Davis Cup Update

Last weekend the Davis Cup quarter-finals were held at four different venues all around the world. Argentina, Czech Republic, France and Serbia won their respective ties and will play for a final spot from September 17th-19th. The weekend in Moscow and Split proved to be another demanding, successful test for the HEAD ATP tennis ball as two of World Group quarterfinals contested using HEAD’s flagshipball.

Amid a pro-Croatian home crowd in the seaside venue of Split, Serbia won the battle of the Balkans 4-1. Novak Djokovic, playing with a YouTek Speed MP, earned the unbeatable score line this year for the Serbs with his defeat of his fellow HEAD racquet rebels Marin Cilic (6-3, 6-3, 6-2) and Ivan Ljubicic (7-6, 6-4, 6-1). World’s No. 2 Djokovic wrote history to put Serbia into their first Davis Cup World Group Semi Final ever to face Czech Republic in a home match. "I feel so relieved that we won," said Djokovic. "We won in one of the toughest atmospheres against a team that has a lot of success in this competition.”

Indoors at the Olympic stadium in Moscow, Argentina claimed victory over Russia. HEAD racquet rebel Horacio Zeballos played an important role for Argentina putting his team 2-1 up after the doubles with partner Eduard Schwank against Nikolay Davydenko and Igor Kunitsyn.

The use of the HEAD ATP ball reflects the express desire of captains and players, with each host nation allowed to choose its own preferred ball, a key strategic decision in the victory strategy.

HEAD is especially proud to be the most-used ball on the Davis Cup Tour, the choice for seven of 12 ties contested so far during the 2010 Davis Cup campaign. As the annual competition heads into the September semi-finals and December final, this percentage looks set to increase, marking a healthy rise from the 47 percent choice rate for Davis Cup ties in 2009. The ATP ball has proved itself on the ATP World Tour, the Masters 1000 series and serves as the official ball of the year-end Barclays ATP World Tour Finals in London.

You can find the most-used ball in Davis Cup at your tennis retailer. And watch the HEAD Racquet Rebels playing with the HEAD ATP balls in Stuttgart and Gstaad in July during the post-Wimbledon European clay season.

Did you know?
_ Unlike the football Champions League, ball and surface are critical and most important throughout the three-day weekend, with no second chances, no home-and-away fixtures - losing teams are eliminated immediately. HEAD ATP balls are designed to perform to optimum levels on all surfaces, a perfect fit for the dramatic do-or-die Davis Cup competition.
_ The first Davis Cup tie took place 1900 in Boston - USA defeated British Isles 3-0.