It was a surprise to me. says Kokkinakis on facing Shelton

Australia’s Thanasi Kokkinakis has revealed that he was surprised to see America’s Ben Shelton as his opponent in the recent Davis Cup clash. The team-based mega-event is moving towards the business end as the remaining teams are giving their all to secure the ultimate prize.

In one of the ties of the quarterfinals stage in Malaga, Australia defeated America with a score of 2-1. One of the contests where Australia registered a win featured Kokkinakis who beat America’s Shelton with a score of 6-1, 4-6, 7-6. While doing so, he saved four match points.

Kokkinakis was recently quoted in a report as saying that he was a bit surprised to see Shelton facing him. Kokkinakis was of the opinion that the Australian team was worried that Fritz might come and face him because they did not see Shelton training at all.

“We didn’t think Ben was going to play,” he said. “We were under the assumption Tommy was going to play. I hadn’t seen Ben the last 2 days,” Kokkinakis told reporters. “I saw Tommy earlier at breakfast so I thought he was maybe going to play. He warmed up with Taylor earlier. It was a surprise to me.”

That was not the only surprising thing about that contest. Another surprising thing was how America decided to field Fritz and Shelton instead of going in with Austin Krajicek and Rajeev Ram. The pair won a silver medal in the Paris Olympics earlier this year. America’s captain, Bob Bryan, admitted that he took a gamble that did not come off.

"As a captain, you have to make tough decisions,” he said. “I had a lot of information behind the decision. We have been here for six days, practicing. We know how everyone is feeling. And we know a lot about the opponents that we're playing. It's a world of analytics," Bryan said. "You talk amongst the other coaches. You talk with the players. ... This wasn't a black-and-white decision. It was razor-thin edge, and we went with it."