Davis Cup

[TheArsenal]

Greg Rusedski has just announced his retirement - effective immediately.

Anyone else watching?

[ChrisSteeleAteMyHamster]

Rusedski's my tennisy hero. Just a shame he was plagued with injury throughout his career.

I got to meet him the first time he appeared at Wimbledon as a British player and followed his career since.

Much much cooler than (COME ON) Tim.

[IAceI]

Nyeh who cares, GB whitewashed someone. Bask in that glory since it won't happen again for a very long time.

Argentina are out~~~

Big surprise they were on indoor carpet. Fast court plus big Swedish people = not very good Argies >_>

[EddieG]

Someone? We're called Holland.. bastard

[ChrisSteeleAteMyHamster]

I thought you were Netherlands and that Holland was only an area of Netherlands.

[TheArsenal]

I thought Netherlands was like....the Dutch for Holland...

like Deucshland and Germany...

[EddieG]

our official name is The Netherlands.. Holland is just another name for it .. I don't know why we have two names.

[TheArsenal]

Wikipedia knows all....

In languages other than Dutch, including English, Holland is commonly and incorrectly used as a synonym for the Netherlands as a whole, while actually it just refers to the central-western part of the country. This part consists of two of the country's twelve provinces, namely North Holland and South Holland. This confusion between a part and its whole (pars pro toto) also exists with the names of other countries, such as Russia for the Soviet Union or England for the UK (see also British Isles terminology).

Historically Holland was the most powerful province of the Netherlands: the counts of Holland were also counts of Hainaut, Flanders and Zeeland between the 1200s and 1400s; during the period of the Dutch Republic the stadholder of Holland was the most powerful politician in the Netherlands, who often also was stadholder in other provinces; the cities in Holland were important trading cities, for instance of the six cities that made up the Dutch East India Company, five were in Holland. The two provinces, making up Holland, still remain demographically dominant - they house 37% of the Dutch population.

The name 'Holland' for the Netherlands is also used colloquially by the Dutch themselves, especially in relation to football (soccer), where the national team is sometimes cheered on with "Holland!". The term is also used for promotional purposes, because the name 'Holland' is better known worldwide.

[ChrisSteeleAteMyHamster]

I am so smart, I am so smart...SMRT...