MALAGA, Spain — Team USA captain Bob Bryan has insisted that he “wouldn’t change a thing” after his selection gamble backfired spectacularly in a 2-1 Davis Cup quarterfinal defeat to Australia. At 1-1 in the tie, Bryan, one of the greatest men’s doubles players of all time, opted to switch Olympic men’s doubles silver medalists Rajeev Ram and Austin Krajicek for top singles players Ben Shelton and Tommy Paul. Up against two top-10 doubles players in Matt Ebden and Jordan Thompson, the Americans lost 6-4, 6-4.

Bryan said in a news conference that he made the decision in the 15-minute window between the second and third ties. “We have an experienced doubles team in Rajeev and Austin, and we’ve got a lot of firepower from the singles lineup,” he said.

“We were hoping to catch the Aussies a little bit by surprise.”

According to Australia’s captain, the former Wimbledon and U.S. Open champion Lleyton Hewitt, that hope was misplaced. “It didn’t surprise us that much, to be honest,” he said in a news conference. “I’d seen them do drills during the week, so yeah, it wasn’t a surprise.”

Shelton, the world No. 21, had earlier come out on the wrong side of a 30-point tiebreak against world No. 78 Thanasi Kokkinakis, falling to a 6-1, 4-6, 7-6(14) defeat. Taylor Fritz, America’s top-ranked singles player at world No. 4 and this year’s U.S. Open finalist, beat world No. 9 Alex De Minaur 6-3, 6-4 to force the deciding rubber.

The selection change meant that rather than having two doubles specialists who play on the ATP tour together play that rubber, the USA fielded two singles players with relatively little doubles experience (though Shelton did play at college and still does semi-regularly). The decision was even more surprising because the USA team captain Bryan, in his first finals since taking the role full time last year, is a legendary doubles player. He won 23 Grand Slams across the men’s and mixed disciplines, the former with his brother, Mike.

Ram and Krajicek have not been in good form, losing four of their five matches since linking up in September but they are both Grand Slam champions and former world No. 1s. They’ve played 41 matches together in total since first linking up in 2015, but lost the Olympic final to an Australia team featuring Ebden, alongside John Peers.

Paul, the world No. 12 in singles, did win a bronze medal in doubles at the Olympics with Fritz but has not played doubles since. He has only once played with Shelton, who looked lost in the first set against Kokkinakis and, after a credible recovery, went for too many low-margin shots in the deciding tiebreak.

The loss could bring back memories for Ram, who was not picked in the squad for the 2022 finals with then-captain Mardy Fish opting to take four players with five spots available. Team USA then went out at the quarterfinal stage to Italy, after losing the decisive doubles rubber. Paul and Fritz were the picks that day and received criticism on Twitter (formerly X) from Canadian doubles specialist Brayden Schnur, who said the decision had been made because of the American pair’s “egos.” Fritz and Paul both hit back and defended Fish’s selection.

In this case Bryan said “we know how everyone is feeling, and we know a lot about the opponents that we’re playing.”

“It’s a world of analytics. You talk amongst the other coaches.”

As for how much the players were involved in the decision, Bryan said: “Some guys are comfortable playing with some guys, and there is a lot that goes in, a lot of dynamics in doubles.

“Look, Austin and Raj, they were very supportive. They were the guys on the sidelines yelling out tactics and helping with serving spots and coverages. They’re in it as great teammates.”

Aiming to unsettle the Aussies, it was actually Paul who was broken in his first service game. Opponents Ebden and Thompson won the Australian Open, Olympics and U.S. Open men’s doubles competitions between them this year, and so the dynamic of the match was very much about two top singles players facing a pair of doubles experts — even if Thompson has relatively recently blossomed on the doubles court.

A singles player can take over a doubles match, like Jannik Sinner in last year’s Davis Cup or Andy Murray in the 2015 final, but the most pertinent recent example of it going the other way was Ram and Krajicek schooling Rafael Nadal and Carlos Alcaraz at the Olympics in July.

Early on, the Aussies made good use of their greater doubles nous, pinching that early break after Ebden had anticipated a crosscourt backhand from Paul and intercepted it with a clinical volley; in the second set, Ebden directed a tricky smash into the tramlines to break again. They faced just one break point throughout.

The Australian pair navigated the doubles court better than the Americans. (Clive Brunskill / Getty Images for ITF)

At the Laver Cup in September, Shelton spoke about how much he enjoys doubles — though that was after playing in a match that involved four singles players. “You play two doubles guys and no one hits over a return. They chip lob you every time. They serve and volley every point,” he said of the difference when playing with doubles specialists.

“And put away every volley. They are literally standing on the net.

“With singles guys, it’s a little different. They are roping the ball crosscourt, hitting the ball way cleaner from the baseline, but not moving as much at net, so you feel a little bit more comfortable returning.”

The defeat means the USA, 32-time Davis Cup champions, have not reached the semifinals since 2018 nor won the event since 2007. With an American team missing Coco Gauff, Jessica Pegula and Emma Navarro exiting the Billie Jean King Cup finals at the first hurdle last week, Team USA leaves Malaga with a record of 0-2.

Australia faces the winner of Thursday night’s tie between Italy and Argentina in the semifinals on Saturday.

(Top photo: Clive Brunskill / Getty Images)