If I’ve barely dried off from the three days of constant rain at the Davis Cup final in Portland last December, I can only imagine how the winning U.S. team feels now that they are lacing up their sneakers for an indoor clay-court tie against Austria in Vienna this weekend. Actually, I don’t imagine, because some team members have been vocal (yet again) in their distaste for the Davis Cup format, which forces them to defend their hard-fought title when the hangover from their beer-soaked victory party has scarcely passed.

In Australia, both Andy Roddick and James Blake complained about the format and said at the very least the two finalists should receive a first-round bye.

“It's just crazy to think that this is….that quick of a turnaround,” said Blake.

Groused Roddick of the alphabet soup of governing bodies that run tennis, including the men’s tour (ATP), the majors (the national federations) and the Davis Cup (ITF): “There could be some adjustments, but I'm not going to sit here and pretend to have the knowledge of inner workings to get it done.”

Even the tell-it-like-it-is captain, Patrick McEnroe, took a polite pass on a conference call recently when asked about defending his title less than 10 weeks after the USA won its record 32^nd championship. “I’d rather not talk about that at this moment,” he said.

So if the defending champs aren’t thrilled, at least they can bask in familiarity. For the record ninth tie in a row, Roddick, Blake and doubles specialists Mike and Bob Bryan will suit up for the USA as it chases another championship.

Against Austria, the U.S. team should prevail, though recent history has demonstrated how tough it can be to come back so soon after victory. Since 2001, three winners (Australia '03, and Spain '00, '04) have been tripped up in the first round, unable to manage the quick turnaround.

Austria’s three main players, No. 55 Stefan Koubek, No. 57 Jurgen Melzer and doubles specialist Julian Knowle, are all lefties. So that in and of itself is rather unusual. While the hostile crowd and the slow court will bother the offensive-minded Roddick and Blake, it shouldn’t be enough to derail them from advancing to the second round. Sixth-ranked Roddick holds a 10-0 combined mark against Koubek and Melzer; No. 12 Blake is 2-1.

The top-ranked Bryans are adept on any surface and always keyed up for Davis Cup (especially after a disappointing quarterfinal finish at the Aussie Open). Their Saturday point is almost a lock. The American team also won both previous meetings against Austria, in 1990 and 2004.

On Friday, Roddick first plays Melzer, followed by Blake vs. Koubek. Melzer and Knowle are the likely doubles pairing against the Bryans.

As in years past, some of the biggest names in the gameare MIA, such as Federer, Nadal, Haas and Murray. Think scheduling might have something to do with it?

Marat Safin announced yesterday that a toe injury would keep him out of Russia’s contest against Serbia, which adds some last-minute intrigue to what is already the first round’s most compelling match-up. Upstart Serbia boasts new Australian Open champ Novak Djokovic and rising Janko Tipsarevic on an indoor hard court in Moscow. 2007 finalist Russia will rely on Nikolay Davydenko (who didn’t play singles in the final) and Mikhail Youzhny.