Roddick Gets U.S. Even With Sweden

What’s a good buddy for, if he can’t pick you up when you fall on your face?

Andy Roddick and Mardy Fish made that act work for the U.S. Davis Cup team, which stumbled then stormed Friday during the opening matches of a best-of-five quarterfinal series against Sweden on a hot, rainy day at the Delray Beach Tennis Center.

The teams completed the first day in a draw, 1-1, as the “Meteor Man,” Roddick, rescued his pal, Fish, with blazing serves (14 aces) and forehands to beat Thomas Enqvist, 6-4, 7-5, 6-2, after Fish had been the catch-of-the-day at the end of Jonas Bjorkman’s racket, 4-6, 6-3, 6-2, 7-5.

“Mardy did the same for me and the team last September in Bratislava,” said Roddick, referring to the 3-2 U.S. victory over Slovakia that kept the Americans in the Cup’s elite World Group. “I lost the opener to [Dominic] Hrbaty, and he stepped up to keep us alive by beating [Karol] Kucera. That’s what a team’s all about.”

Added Patrick McEnroe, the U.S. captain: “We’re in good position now, with the Bryans coming up.”

He was referring to Camarillo’s Bob and Mike Bryan, who will play Bjorkman and 2002 Australian Open champion Tomas Johansson today in doubles.

The Bryans’ position didn’t look as good when Enqvist leaped to a 3-1 lead over Roddick. Then Roddick -- “I was jacked up and juiced” -- began returning serve immaculately and made Enqvist hit too many balls. The Swedes had done the Americans a favor by removing Cup-holding Australia in February, 4-1, in Adelaide, obviating the need for a U.S. trip Down Under. Friday, the favors were over when 32-year-old Bjorkman, a 10-year veteran of Davis Cup play, stepped onto the green pavement before a full house of 6,054 fans.

“I think his experience was the difference,” said Fish, who started fast but ended up consumed by the quick, slick Bjorkman’s offerings. “Jonas kept me under constant pressure. He took the net away from me.”

Bjorkman, ranked 27th, said of Fish, ranked 18th: “I just didn’t think he could keep up his serving and big strokes of the first set. If he did ... too good. But I was able to play myself into it.”

Bjorkman began to reach and read Fish’s serve, returning resoundingly and pushing the 22-year-old around in a match that consumed 2:55 of playing time but took almost six hours because of four rain stoppages.

Then it was Roddick’s turn. He and Fish had grown up together, not far from here, in Boca Raton. They were schoolmates, teammates and housemates, with Fish a star boarder in the Roddick home.

Roddick recounted: “Right before I went on the court Mardy gave me a high-five and said, ‘Sorry.’ I said, ‘You know what -- you got mine back last time. I’m gonna get yours back this time.’ That’s the way it works.”