The Spanish Davis Cup team posed with Spanish PM Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero after recapturing the title this past weekend.
Spanish camaraderie won in the end. Plus, there are details of Ferrer’s bathroom break right after he lost the first-two sets to Radek Stepanek (NYT)
Tignor takes a harsh look at the Davis Cup final participants. He is really hard on Tomas Berdych and kind of hard on Radek Stepanek. It is a little too severe considering the fact that, on paper, the Czechs should have never made it that far, but they did. Other teams allowed the Czechs to get past them when they should have won. Spain just did what it was supposed to do (Tennis.com)
Freep this poll! Ronaldo vs. Nadal (TMZ)
Viktor Troicki beats Novak Djokovic in a Serbian exhibition 7-6. Djokovic does some impressions and talks tennis (Blic)
Andy Murray commits audio terrorism against the world. You have been now warned (The Pop Cop)
Guga will be honored by Brazil's President Lula. I will now be holding my own parade to honor the honors (ATP)
Pat Rafter wins AEGON Masters title (BL's Tennis News)
Roddick rehabs knee after injury (TSN)
The Austrian Open is dropped from the ATP calendar, and the ATP transferred the rights to Nice, France (TSN)
Roger Federer finishes the year No. 1 in singles, and the Bryan brothers finish no. 1 in doubles (ESPN)
(Image: Pedro Armestre/AFP/Getty Images)
Spain swept the Czech Republic 5-0 to cap off the weekend. Despite clinching the title, Rafael Nadal and David Ferrer still played in their respective dead rubbers to in Barcelona.
Sunday’s Results
R5: David Ferrer (ESP) def. Lukas Dlouhy (CZE) 6-4 6-2
R4: Rafael Nadal (ESP) def. Jan Hajek (CZE) 6-3 6-4
Saturday’s Results
R3: F.Lopez/F. Verdasco (ESP) def. T. Berdych/R. Stepanek (CZE) 7-6(7) 7-5 6-2
Friday’s Results
R2: David Ferrer (ESP) def. Radek Stepanek (CZE) 1-6 2-6 6-4 6-4 8-6
R1: Rafael Nadal (ESP) def. Tomas Berdych (CZE) 7-5 6-0 6-2
(Image: Josep Lago/AFP/Getty Images)
Spain successfully defended their title and captured their fourth Davis Cup title of the decade. The last team to successfully defend their title was Sweden in 1998. The Spaniards won the most titles of this decade -- the US came in second with two titles. The title also moves Spain into the sixth place on the number of Davis Cup titles won: USA 32, Australia 28, France 9, Great Britain 9 and Sweden 7. Not bad for a country that won its first Davis Cup title in 2000.
The win this weekend was impressive. Each player carried his own weight. No one flaked out and relied on Rafael Nadal to carry the team. Nadal played wonderfully yesterday, and David Ferrer showed a lot of heart by rallying from two sets down to win when he was not playing particularly well yesterday.
Today, Fernando Verdasco and Feliciano Lopez stepped up to the plate and effectively shutdown Radek Stepanek and Tomas Berdych. A weak point for the Spanish duo is Verdasco’s volleying and Lopez’s serve. These issues were not a factor at all today. In fact, they both played really well and kept their errors to a minimum. Plus, Verdasco hit a lot of winners from all over the court.
Most importantly, there were no mental hiccups. In the tiebreak, the Spaniards served for the first set at 6-3. They allowed the Czechs to go on a 4-point run. As a consequence, the Czechs turned the tables and had a set point at 7-6. It looked like the Czech team would take advantage of the situation. Ver
dasco and Lopez instead took care of business and won the next two points. The next time they saw set point, they converted.
In the second set, the Spanish team played solidly. They did not make any major mistakes and again had no mental letdowns. They stayed with the Czechs and actually broke in game 11. Lopez then held serve for the second set.
From there, the wheels came of the Czech bus. The Spaniards broke in the first and fifth games of the third set. Stepanek and Berdych were completely despondent by game four. The second break effectively closed the door on the Czechs, who had successfully taken advantage of a lot of teams this year. Verdasco and Lopez ultimately won in dominant fashion 7-6(7) 7-5 6-2 after two hours and 46 minutes of play.
Spain wins it in three to cap a dominant performance this year. Congrats to the Czech runners-up, who went on the road and upset France, Argentina and Croatia. They definitely deserved to be in the final but ultimately ran into a team that was all business this year.
(Images: Denis Doyle/Getty Images, LLuis Gene/AFP/Getty Images)
Since Rafael Nadal’s return to the tour in Montreal this year, the Spaniard’s play has been inconsistent. He is still trying to return to that top form that has brought him six grand slam titles. Over the last four months, Nadal has looked good at times and has looked flat at times.
Today, he looked great. His movement was good, and his defense-to-offense was on point. After a tight first set, he steamrolled Berdych in the next two sets and was back to playing target practice with his opponent. The Majorcan eventually topped the Czech 7-5 6-0 6-2 after 2 hours and 28 minutes.
With Spain jumping out to a 1-0 lead and Nadal in good form, this took some pressure off of David Ferrer. Ferrer has really struggled over the last eighteen months. Plus, there was the drama from last year’s Davis Cup final against Argentina.
Ferrer had the more difficult task of playing Radek Stepanek, who has a good all-around game and is known for his head games. Stepanek played well in the first-two sets, and Ferrer looked out of sorts. It looked like it was going to be a replay of last years’ Davis Cup final for the Spaniard.
This time, Ferrer was able to turn the match around and take Stepanek to the distance for a 1-6 2-6 6-4 6-4 8-6 win after 4 hours and 17 minutes of play. At the en
d of the match, you could tell the win meant a lot to him. It was definitely a good win for Ferrer, his confidence and his critics.
Ferrer’s win now gives Spain some cushion. If he lost, it could have put Spain in a precarious predicament. Spain is now in a good position for another title, but they are still not out of the woods yet.
If any team can rebound from a 2-0 deficit, it is Berdych and Stepanek. The worst kept secret is that Stepanek and Berdych will probably play doubles tomorrow instead of Lukas Dlouhy and Jan Hajek. They are currently undefeated in all three of their Davis Cup matches this year and have a good chance of taking Fernando Verdasco and Felicano Lopez tomorrow. A win tomorrow could spark a Czech run, though Nadal’s play today most likely closes the door on any Czech hopes of a title.
(Images: AP)
Today is the first day of the Davis Cup final. The Spanish team will defend their title against the Czech Republic on their home turf of Barcelona. Though the Spanish team is deep, the Czech team is anchored by Tomas Berdych and Radek Stepanek, who have caused a lot of heartache this year.
The Czechs has travelled on the road and upset a lot of teams along the way. This matchup could actually more of a toss-up than it appears on paper, so it should be a good times for tennis fans.
Friday’s Matches
RR1: Rafael Nadal (ESP) vs. Tomas Berdych (CZE)
RR2: David Ferrer (ESP) vs. Radek Stepanek (CZE)
Watch Live
Tennis Channel – 10:00 AM
(Image: AP)
At the end of last week, Nikolay Davydenko took the ATP World Tour Finals. He surpassed Juan Martin del Potro 6-3 6-4 in the final. The title is his sixth of the year and 19th of his ten-year career.
The win helped the Russian overtake Andy Roddick in the year-end rankings. Davydenko started out the year no. 6 and fell to no. 12 in July. He had a great indoor season and is now back to the no. 6 position behind del Potro.
(Image: Carl De Souza/AFP/Getty Images)
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