DRAW Shanghai open
JC as the first seed in Shanghai Heineken Open would face qualifier in the first round. to see the rest of the draw please click here.**
ARTICLE New Generation Sees Spain to Fifth Final
Fate works in mysterious ways. Without an injury to Carlos Moya, Rafael Nadal would almost certainly not have played singles against France this weekend - indeed he might not yet have played singles in Davis Cup by BNP Paribas at all, given that his first singles appearance in February's first round against the Czech Republic came as a result of his fellow-Mallorcan's injury. And only a failure by the Spanish backroom team to meet the Davis Cup nominations deadline saw Nadal play against Arnaud Clement in the first of the reverse singles of this semifinal in Alicante.
But once on court, the 18-year-old left-hander showed why so many people are tipping him to get to the top. After taking five games to settle against the experienced French Davis Cup campaigner, Nadal played two-and-a-half sets of superb tennis, barely making a mistake, and making Clement look a novice.
There is something infectious about Nadal's self-belief and keenness to win. He was the driving force behind Spain's five-sets doubles win on Saturday which paved the way for the victory to confirm Spain's fifth Davis Cup final (and third in five years). And the way he bounced around the court in Alicante's imposing bull ring, finding angles and corners, and showing brilliant reflexes, left Clement looking like the bull and the young pretender clearly the matador.
At the start of the year, Spain were keen to sign up Carlos Moya and Juan Carlos Ferrero for their 2004 Davis Cup by BNP Paribas campaign. Though the pair have each notched up two live wins in Spain's three ties this year, it is Nadal who has captured the imagination with two singles wins in decisive rubbers. His straight-sets win over Radek Stepanek in February saw Spain into the quarterfinals after trailing 1-2 going into the final day, and a second straight-sets win over Clement has seen Spain into a home final against the USA in December.
The question now is: will Nadal be offered a singles berth in that final? He himself thinks not. "If necessary I can play singles and doubles," he said, "but I think Ferrero and Moya are still favourites to play the singles if they're playing well."
That could be a big "if". Ferrero and Moya are both carrying injuries, Ferrero's right-hand blister is enough to cause him to withdraw from this coming week's tournament in Shanghai, while Moya is struggling with shoulder and knee niggles, as well as damaged confidence following his five-sets defeat to Paul-Henri Mathieu on Friday. They need to play well in the eight remaining weeks of the season, most of which takes place on fast indoor courts which they prefer less than the clay on which they will play December's Davis Cup by BNP Paribas final.
The impression from the weekend was that Nadal might currently be a better clay-court player than Moya. The elder Mallorcan, who is desperate for a Davis Cup winner's medal after missing the 2000 triumph through injury and being on the losing side against Australia last year, is a vastly improved player on faster surfaces but seems to have lost some of his patience on clay.
Spain certainly enjoyed a fair bit of luck over the past weekend. The injury to Fabrice Santoro that prevented him from playing in the doubles turned a match the French were expected to win into a 50:50, and Nadal's brilliance in singles rescued a potentially embarrassing situation when the Spaniards discovered neither Ferrero nor Moya could play on the final day. Ferrero's late withdrawal prompted a decision to put Robredo in against Clement and leave Nadal to face Mathieu, but the backroom staff were too late announcing the switch, so Robredo had to face Mathieu after all. As it happened, Robredo won the dead rubber 64 64 to make the overall score 4-1.
So to the final, and Moya raised an interesting prospect. Asked if he thought the Americans might turn to Andre Agassi for their second singles slot, Moya replied: "It would be great - Roddick, Agassi and the [Bryan] twins, it would be one of the best finals possible. But I don't know if he's going to change his mind right now."
Probably not, but US captain Patrick McEnroe is probably thinking about picking up the phone and dialling Las Vegas...
**PS: There's no clear news about JC participation in the shanghai open yet although the draw has included him. We'll keep you posted, for now let's hope that JC is allright... or maybe happily drunk ^_^
JC as the first seed in Shanghai Heineken Open would face qualifier in the first round. to see the rest of the draw please click here.**
ARTICLE New Generation Sees Spain to Fifth Final
Fate works in mysterious ways. Without an injury to Carlos Moya, Rafael Nadal would almost certainly not have played singles against France this weekend - indeed he might not yet have played singles in Davis Cup by BNP Paribas at all, given that his first singles appearance in February's first round against the Czech Republic came as a result of his fellow-Mallorcan's injury. And only a failure by the Spanish backroom team to meet the Davis Cup nominations deadline saw Nadal play against Arnaud Clement in the first of the reverse singles of this semifinal in Alicante.
But once on court, the 18-year-old left-hander showed why so many people are tipping him to get to the top. After taking five games to settle against the experienced French Davis Cup campaigner, Nadal played two-and-a-half sets of superb tennis, barely making a mistake, and making Clement look a novice.
There is something infectious about Nadal's self-belief and keenness to win. He was the driving force behind Spain's five-sets doubles win on Saturday which paved the way for the victory to confirm Spain's fifth Davis Cup final (and third in five years). And the way he bounced around the court in Alicante's imposing bull ring, finding angles and corners, and showing brilliant reflexes, left Clement looking like the bull and the young pretender clearly the matador.
At the start of the year, Spain were keen to sign up Carlos Moya and Juan Carlos Ferrero for their 2004 Davis Cup by BNP Paribas campaign. Though the pair have each notched up two live wins in Spain's three ties this year, it is Nadal who has captured the imagination with two singles wins in decisive rubbers. His straight-sets win over Radek Stepanek in February saw Spain into the quarterfinals after trailing 1-2 going into the final day, and a second straight-sets win over Clement has seen Spain into a home final against the USA in December.
The question now is: will Nadal be offered a singles berth in that final? He himself thinks not. "If necessary I can play singles and doubles," he said, "but I think Ferrero and Moya are still favourites to play the singles if they're playing well."
That could be a big "if". Ferrero and Moya are both carrying injuries, Ferrero's right-hand blister is enough to cause him to withdraw from this coming week's tournament in Shanghai, while Moya is struggling with shoulder and knee niggles, as well as damaged confidence following his five-sets defeat to Paul-Henri Mathieu on Friday. They need to play well in the eight remaining weeks of the season, most of which takes place on fast indoor courts which they prefer less than the clay on which they will play December's Davis Cup by BNP Paribas final.
The impression from the weekend was that Nadal might currently be a better clay-court player than Moya. The elder Mallorcan, who is desperate for a Davis Cup winner's medal after missing the 2000 triumph through injury and being on the losing side against Australia last year, is a vastly improved player on faster surfaces but seems to have lost some of his patience on clay.
Spain certainly enjoyed a fair bit of luck over the past weekend. The injury to Fabrice Santoro that prevented him from playing in the doubles turned a match the French were expected to win into a 50:50, and Nadal's brilliance in singles rescued a potentially embarrassing situation when the Spaniards discovered neither Ferrero nor Moya could play on the final day. Ferrero's late withdrawal prompted a decision to put Robredo in against Clement and leave Nadal to face Mathieu, but the backroom staff were too late announcing the switch, so Robredo had to face Mathieu after all. As it happened, Robredo won the dead rubber 64 64 to make the overall score 4-1.
So to the final, and Moya raised an interesting prospect. Asked if he thought the Americans might turn to Andre Agassi for their second singles slot, Moya replied: "It would be great - Roddick, Agassi and the [Bryan] twins, it would be one of the best finals possible. But I don't know if he's going to change his mind right now."
Probably not, but US captain Patrick McEnroe is probably thinking about picking up the phone and dialling Las Vegas...
**PS: There's no clear news about JC participation in the shanghai open yet although the draw has included him. We'll keep you posted, for now let's hope that JC is allright... or maybe happily drunk ^_^