Andy Roddick, passionate about the Davis Cup since watching the 1992 final, put Saturday's victory by the Americans on par with his 2003 US Open title.
Roddick was in jubilant mood after his team mates Bob and Mike Bryan crushed Russians Nikolay Davydenko and Igor Andreev in the doubles to earn the United States an unbeatable 3-0 lead in the three-day tie.
"It's definitely on par with anything that I've accomplished in tennis," Roddick, 25, told a news conference after the Americans had clinched their first Davis Cup success since 1995.
"You know, Davis Cup probably doesn't get as much recognition as it should.
"But to have shared in the last seven years, and it wasn't really a seven, eight-year process to try to win the US Open. All of a sudden I was on tour and it happened before it knew it."
Roddick won his first grand slam title as a 21-year-old at the 2003 US Open, beating Spaniard Juan Carlos Ferrero 6-3, 7-6, 6-3 in the final.
He made his Davis Cup debut in 2001 in a World Group first-round match against Switzerland in Basel where U.S. captain Patrick McEnroe took charge for the first time.
"This has been a journey," Roddick added. "Like Patrick said on court, we've been to some places. When you're just with these guys, you develop friendships. There's so much that goes into this.
SELFISH REASONS
"Winning the US Open, trying to compete for Slams, you're playing for a lot of selfish reasons.
"But to come in here and to share this with these guys and to have developed the friendships and everything that goes along with it, the laughs and the tears, it's just amazing."
World number six Roddick set the tone for the US victory over Russia by outclassing Dmitry Tursunov 6-4, 6-4, 6-2 in the opening rubber of the three-day tie.
It was his sixth Davis Cup singles win of the year, and his 21st in 30 appearances.
"He has been waiting for this moment for a long time," McEnroe said of Roddick's performance. "The way he handled the match emotionally was just real professional and real mature.
"I think the biggest key for us this weekend was the guys really kept their emotions in check," McEnroe added. "They went out and prepared really well all week.
"Even in the last month or so, they had different sorts of schedules but they all were thinking about this, preparing themselves individually as well as they could."
© 2024 Rediff.com -