For those of you who just can’t get enough tennis, even though it’s mere days since the end of the final Grand Slam tournament of 2012, or if you’re just a glutton for punishment, we have the semifinals of the second greatest and most storied international team competition (after soccer’s World Cup) coming up this weekend. Spain will host the United States and Argentina will host the Czech Republic in Davis Cup.
The Spanish are currently riding the longest home-tie winning streak in World Group history (that is, since 1981). Spain hasn’t lost on home soil since Brazil beat the squad in the first round of play at Lerida in 1999, and guess what that tie and this upcoming tie already have in common?
Rafa wasn’t at that one, either.
And that’s precisely why you can’t just place a “W” in Spain’s column and move on to the final. Rafael Nadal is out, probably for the rest of the year, resting and rehabilitating those troublesome knees that have caused him to sit out since he was upset in the second round at Wimbledon.
Back in ‘99, the hero was that fan favorite, the much-loved former No. 1 and three-time Roland Garros champion, Gustavo Kuerten. The whippet-lean Brazilian won all three of his matches (partnering with Jaimie Oncins in the doubles). But don’t think that the pre-Nadal squad was a pushover; it featured former French Open finalist and ATP year-end championships winner Alex Corretja, and former No. 1 and French Open champ Carlos Moya. I don’t know how that feat of Kuerten’s has managed to go so unnoticed, but now we can appreciate—and remember—it.
The United States doesn’t have a Guga on its squad. But it does have the reunited amigos, ATP nNo. 11 John Isner and rejuvenated No. 22 Sam Querrey, as well as the all-time Grand Slam doubles champions, Bob and Mike Bryan. And the head-to-head recod is surprising, pleasantly so, for the Americans. The four singles players combine to 4-8 in favor of Spain; these guys just haven’t played each other that often.
The ominous aspect of that record is that only two of those matches were on clay (Almagro beat Querrey in both). While Querrey is still trying to recover the form that boosted him as high as No. 17 before he experienced a series of injuries, Isner will certainly provide Spain with some anxious moments.
Following a distinct tradition, Isner has emerged as one of those individuals who plays above his head in Davis Cup matches (and he’s 6’9”, so that’s saying a lot). In the two previous rounds this year, Isner won all four of his singles matches—including victories over Roger Federer in Switzerland, and Gilles Simon and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in France (he also won a dead rubber). And all those matches were on clay.
I guarantee you that neither Almagro nor Ferrer are admiring the head-to-head records, or even their own excellent clay-court resumes, and strutting about the Parque Hermanos Castro (in Gijon, Spain, where the tie will be played) with their chests all puffed out. Neither man is particularly known for having a high degree of self-confidence, at least not when it comes to facing players ranked above him (in a subtle way, this may have something to do with laboring for so long in Nadal’s shadow). Isner is no Nadal, but his Davis Cup record will weigh heavily on the minds of the Spanish.
This tie could end up being a lot closer than it may appear on paper, simply because the Spanish have all the pressure that comes with being the favorite, but—and I think this is key—they don’t have the insurance policy that is Nadal.
The visitors have one additional weapon, I think, in captain Jim Courier. In this, his second year at the helm, he’s shown enormous leadership. And great leaders can make good men do great things. This one will bear close watching—or end in a blow-out if Ferrer and Almagro bring their A-games. After all, they have six clay-court titles between them. Just this year.
Should Spain advance, it would add to the home-tie winning streak, but also set the stage for another rare achievement. If Argentina also advances, the final would be a re-match of last year’s title bout (Spain defeated Argentina, in Spain).
The last time two countries played in back-to-back finals, Germany beat Sweden in 1988 and ’89. That was during the heyday of Boris Becker, who clinched for Germany in ’88, losing just four games to—get this—former No. 1 and Hall-of-Famer Mats Wilander. In ’89, Becker gave that other icon, Stefan Edberg, just nine games in the second rubber (it started the three-match string that earned Germany the Cup that year)—and that one was in Sweden!
I’m not sure any team ever played a better pair of back-to-back finals, given the quality of the competition (Wilander and Edberg played both ties), and Becker played doubles in both finals to boot.
That was one of just five successful defenses of the Davis Cup since the advent of World Group play, and I’d bet Argentina would just love to see Spain again—this time at home. There’s an excellent chance the baby-blue-and-white will survive this upcoming semi at Parque Roca, in Buenos Aires, because their No. 1, Juan Martin del Potro, will have excellent support in Juan Monaco, who’s having a career year.
Del Potro is ranked No. 8 and coming off an excellent U.S. Open (losing to Novak Djokovic in the quarterfinals), while Monaco is No. 11. Granted, top Czech Tomas Berdych is having another outstanding year, and recently beat Roger Federer at the U.S. Open. But the Czech No. 2 is Radek Stepanek, who’s 33 years old and having a hard enough time staying inside the Top 50 ranking (he’s presently No. 40).
The intriguing intangible in this one is the absence of David Nalbandian from the Argentina side (Eduardo Schwank and Carlos Berlocq round out the squad). Okay, he pulled out of the U.S. Open with a strained chest muscle. Perhaps he’s still hurt. But it’s also true that he’s a Davis Cup fanatic, and was the long-time team leader—Argentina was considered “his” team. The only trouble is that del Potro is also a Davis Cup warrior, and he was never really comfortable with Nalbandian’s leadership. The two clashed, and the situation became poisonous when del Potro emerged as he better player—by far.
It would seem to be del Potro’s team to take over now, what with Nalbandian past 30, increasingly injury prone (he was never known for his fitness to begin with), and struggling to stay in the Top 50. The Argentinians are, hands down, the best team never to have won the Davis Cup, and don’t think for a moment that del Potro doesn’t know what accomplishing that task would mean, after his team’s four unsuccessful tries in the championship round. With a final against Spain on home soil a possibility, it ought to be incentive enough for del Potro to lead Argentina to an easy win over the one-man team the Czechs will field.