The transition from one era to another is rarely easy or swift, but U.S. Davis Cup captain Jim Courier may have accomplished it after just his third tie, by virtue of Team USA's resonant 5-0 upset of Switzerland in the first round of World Group play this weekend.

That's an encouraging development for American tennis, now that our historic talent for churning out Grand Slam singles champions is rapidly evaporating. As the Swiss demonstrated, it's risky to depend on individual genius in Davis Cup. The competition is still a team effort and that always begins with leadership at the top by the non-playing captain.

Courier took command of the team at the start of 2011, taking over from the longest-serving captain in U.S. history, Patrick McEnroe. What might be called the McEnroe-Roddick era began in 2000 and while it produced just one championship (2007, USA d. Russia) the American squad was always competitive.

Andy Roddick helped ease the transition to the Courier captaincy at the start of 2011, contributing two notable wins on outdoor clay in Team USA's win over Chile in Santiago. But in July, the U.S. was crushed on its preferred hard court by Spain (whose best player, Rafael Nadal, didn't even make the trip) in Roddick's adopted home town of Austin, Texas. It was so dispiriting that Roddick didn't even bother to play the meaningless fifth "dead" rubber match.

Looking back, it's tempting to call that catastrophe the official end of the McEnroe-Roddick era. You had to wonder, as the U.S. embarked on this year's campaign, "What next?"

Courier appeared to provide a loud and clear answer in Fribourg over the weekend. His team was confident, enthusiastic and aggressive. The squad radiated an air of professionalism, handily represented by the image of Courier sitting courtside attired in a elegantly tailored suit.

Could it be that Roger Federer, himself a clothes horse of some repute, was so bummed out by Courier's GQ quotient as he changed ends during his first match that his game went to pieces?

Not likely. The more reasonable explanation is that Federer and his compatriots were ill-prepared and fitfully motivated for this tie, while the U.S. came loaded for bear. Courier's team even managed to turn the host nation's choice of a poorly-laid clay court into an advantage by embracing the challenge -- and opportunity -- it represented.

And note that even after the tie was decided, Ryan Harrison and Isner played the fourth and fifth meaningless rubbers with gusto, as if they really counted.

Piling on? I don't think so. It was the professional thing to do. Call it the Courier factor.

As Harrison said after the tie, "You see the way that he [Courier] handles things on a day-to-day basis, the way he's organized, structured. For someone like myself at this point in my career, I'm trying to be exactly that: more organized and more structured. So to be a part of this week was a huge experience."

Courier's version: "Look, culture starts at the top. I'm the captain of the team. As I looked to my captains for guidance, they're looking to me for guidance. ... We did everything we needed to do in the buildup this week to play well this week. When you do that, you give yourself a great chance. There's no real secret sauce to working hard and working smart. It's doing it time and time again."

Given the state of American tennis, Courier has a chance -- and a challenge -- over the next few years to show that outstanding leadership accounts for as much as raw talent when it comes to Davis Cup success.