For the most part, I feel that men’s tennis has a tremendous amount of parity at the moment. There are some notable exceptions, of course, but handicapping tournaments is quite a challenge because of the incredible competitiveness on the ATP Tour.

As such, I expected a number of closely battled contests in this week’s Davis Cup ties. But glancing at the latest scores, it appears that my differentiation of the Davis Cup and the ATP Tour as distinct entities took things to an entirely new level.

The United States’ victory over Spain, clinched with the Bryan brothers asserting their dominance on the doubles rubber, may have been predictable. Andy Roddick is just as big a horse in Davis Cup as the Bryans are, and with no Rafael Nadal (or David Ferrer), you could have made the case that James Blake might have been able to escape from his funk with the help of some good old American crowd support.

Sweden also took the first three rubbers of their tie, against an Argentinean side that I thought would pose a far greater challenge. Although their singles matches required a slew of tie-breakers, Thomas Johansson and Robin Soderling made short work of David Nalbandian and Juan Martin del Potro, securing a victory for Sweden, and a tie with the United States in the next round. Would Guillermo Canas have made a difference here? I’m not sure, but he would have been better suited as a singles player than at doubles.

For all of the home court advantage that Sweden and the United States got in their matches (remember my last post?), it seems that the Belgians must have forgotten to instill energy from their loyal supporters. After defeating Australia in Leige back in February, I expected a similarly inspired performance from Oliver Rochus and company against Germany.

What I got was a blitzkrieg from the Germans, with no match even going to five sets. Raise your hand if you thought Tommy Haas, Philipp Kohlschreiber and Alexander Waske would be in the final four of the Davis Cup this year. Actually, on second thoughtS, raise your hand if you knew anyone on the German team besides Haas.

This “sweep” mania didn’t just pertain to the World Group – the Zone Groups were also littered with lopsided results. EVERY tie is 3-0 going into Sunday, aside from Brazil/Canada, where the doubles match had to be postponed due to darkness. Seriously, check it out:

Americas Zone Group I
- Peru v Mexico 3 - 0
- Brazil v Canada 2 - 0

Asia/Oceania Zone Group I
- Japan v Thailand 3 - 0
- Korea, Rep. v Uzbekistan 3 - 0

Europe/Africa Zone Group I
- Macedonia, F.Y.R. v Slovak Republic 0 - 3
- Israel v Italy 3 - 0
- Serbia v Georgia 3 - 0
- Great Britain v Netherlands 3 - 0

Amazing, isn’t it? I don’t feel bad for the teams on the receiving end of a 3-0 beating as much as I do for the fans that purchased Sunday tickets. I hope they like dead rubbers.

In spite of all of this, there is one tie where the victor is still in question – France v Russia. And for providing some semblance of competitiveness, I think it’s only right that we preview the deciding rubbers:

Nikolay Davydenko v Richard Gasquet:
Gasquet played Mikhail Youzhny tough. Very tough. He almost came back from two sets down, but fell 8-6 in the fifth to the vocal Russian. Looking at Gasquet’s prior results against Russia, he seems to favor the long match, although the results haven’t been as kind – he dropped five setters to Marat Safin and Dmitry Tursunov in last year.

In 2005, these two met in Davis Cup, with the match going to Davydenko in four sets (6-2, 4-6, 6-2, 6-1). Obviously, Gasquet has improved a bit since then, but is it enough against a Russian side that seems to have his number? The Russian crowd will also be an obstacle to contend with.

As much as I’d like to pick Gasquet in this, I don’t think France will be extending this to a fifth and deciding rubber. Davydenko does have a tendency to wear down in long matches, but I’m not sure Gasquet has the necessary patience to hang around with Davydenko for that long. Nikolay will keep everything in play (think Guillermo Canas, just with less power), which will surely frustrate Richard. So far 2007 has been a year of missed opportunities for Gasquet, and I just don’t see this match as the one that breaks him through – it’s the wrong opponent, and the wrong venue.

Pick: Davydenko in four sets (but I hope I’m wrong).

*** For more tennis, go to www.gasquetandracquet.com ***

Why have most of the Davis Cup ties been one-sided? We want your views at Sportingo.