Draw in Spain Confirms Argentine Injury Withdrawals
There are two ways of looking at the World Group semifinal tie to be played in a makeshift 12,000-seater arena on the western edge of Malaga.
The first and obvious way is to say that with Argentina’s two best players Guillermo Coria and David Nalbandian missing through injury, Spain should have an easy run to the final. The hamstring injury Coria picked up at the US Open and the stomach and wrist problems suffered by Nalbandian have turned what was a very 50:50 tie two weeks ago into one in which Spain are strong favourites.
But there are enough indicators to suggest it may not be quite so simple, and that a second view, in which Argentina have an outside though realistic chance, can be justified.
Gaston Gaudio opens the tie against the new world No. 1 Juan Carlos Ferrero. They have played nine times, and Gaudio has won five of them. “We have known each other for a long time,” the Argentine says, “and I know where he likes to hit the ball, so that means we have close matches.”
Another factor in Argentina’s favour is that the tag of world No. 1 hasn’t always been kind to its carriers in the Davis Cup. John McEnroe, Jim Courier, Pete Sampras and Lleyton Hewitt have all lost in finals as the best in the world, and with Ferrero back on clay after his impressive exploits on the North American hard courts, the time could be good for Gaudio to strike.
Asked whether being No. 1 would give a different feel to the match, Ferrero said no, but he did admit that readjusting from the hard courts of North America, where he reached the US Open final, was taking time. “It’s not easy to get back to the clay, but we’re Spanish guys, we play well on clay, so we don’t need so much time to get used to it again.”
Though both Agustin Calleri at 16 and Mariano Zabaleta at 24 are ranked above Gaudio, the 24-year-old Gaudio (ranked 32) was probably the easiest singles selection for Argentina’s non-playing captain Gustavo Luza. Gaudio has won 13 of his 14 matches in Davis Cup by BNP Paribas, whereas Calleri’s only live win came in the qualifying round three years ago, and Zabaleta has yet to win a live rubber.
As such Carlos Moya is strongly fancied to beat Zabaleta in the second singles, even though the former world No. 1 has struggled for consistency since the French Open season, with the one exception of his 14th career title on the clay of Umag, Croatia. That came just after Zabaleta won his second career title, which also came on European red clay in Båstad, Sweden.
All eight nominated players are set to play, with Calleri partnering the Argentine doubles specialist Lucas Arnold in Saturday’s doubles against the bronze medallists from the Sydney Olympics, Alex Corretja and Albert Costa.
--> taken from official davis cup website.
There are two ways of looking at the World Group semifinal tie to be played in a makeshift 12,000-seater arena on the western edge of Malaga.
The first and obvious way is to say that with Argentina’s two best players Guillermo Coria and David Nalbandian missing through injury, Spain should have an easy run to the final. The hamstring injury Coria picked up at the US Open and the stomach and wrist problems suffered by Nalbandian have turned what was a very 50:50 tie two weeks ago into one in which Spain are strong favourites.
But there are enough indicators to suggest it may not be quite so simple, and that a second view, in which Argentina have an outside though realistic chance, can be justified.
Gaston Gaudio opens the tie against the new world No. 1 Juan Carlos Ferrero. They have played nine times, and Gaudio has won five of them. “We have known each other for a long time,” the Argentine says, “and I know where he likes to hit the ball, so that means we have close matches.”
Another factor in Argentina’s favour is that the tag of world No. 1 hasn’t always been kind to its carriers in the Davis Cup. John McEnroe, Jim Courier, Pete Sampras and Lleyton Hewitt have all lost in finals as the best in the world, and with Ferrero back on clay after his impressive exploits on the North American hard courts, the time could be good for Gaudio to strike.
Asked whether being No. 1 would give a different feel to the match, Ferrero said no, but he did admit that readjusting from the hard courts of North America, where he reached the US Open final, was taking time. “It’s not easy to get back to the clay, but we’re Spanish guys, we play well on clay, so we don’t need so much time to get used to it again.”
Though both Agustin Calleri at 16 and Mariano Zabaleta at 24 are ranked above Gaudio, the 24-year-old Gaudio (ranked 32) was probably the easiest singles selection for Argentina’s non-playing captain Gustavo Luza. Gaudio has won 13 of his 14 matches in Davis Cup by BNP Paribas, whereas Calleri’s only live win came in the qualifying round three years ago, and Zabaleta has yet to win a live rubber.
As such Carlos Moya is strongly fancied to beat Zabaleta in the second singles, even though the former world No. 1 has struggled for consistency since the French Open season, with the one exception of his 14th career title on the clay of Umag, Croatia. That came just after Zabaleta won his second career title, which also came on European red clay in Båstad, Sweden.
All eight nominated players are set to play, with Calleri partnering the Argentine doubles specialist Lucas Arnold in Saturday’s doubles against the bronze medallists from the Sydney Olympics, Alex Corretja and Albert Costa.
--> taken from official davis cup website.
