Feliciano Lopez complains about being left off Spain’s Davis Cup team, which will face the Czech Republic in the final in Prague beginning this Friday. The tie will be played on a fast hard court.
“I saw myself playing,” Lopez told AS.com. “I don’t understand the decision, although I respect it. At a technical level it’s difficult to understand. Ask Berdych who he would have preferred not to have as an opponent. If anyone could beat Berdych on this court it’s me. The court is ideal for my game. But [Spanish captain Alex Corretja had to] play the doubles [team] after they won the ATP Finals.”
Corretja decided to go with singles players David Ferrer and Nicolas Almagro, and the doubles team of Marcel Granollers and Marc Lopez. Corretja did bring Feliciano Lopez to Prague with the rest of the team, and according to sources was seriously considering him for the lineup, as he is a good player indoors and can also play doubles.
But apparently Corretja decided to go with Granollers and Marc Lopez because they just won the ATP World Tour Finals in doubles, and believes they can knock off the probable Czech doubles team of Tomas Berdych and Radek Stepanek. Feliciano Lopez is ranked No. 40 in singles, behind No. 5 Ferrer and No. 11 Almagro. He holds a 4-3 record against Berdych, has never lost to him off of clay, and beat him the only time they met in Davis Cup, in 2004 on carpet in the Czech Republic.
Lopez said that he had recently been assured of a spot on the team, and even had gone to Queen’s during the week of the ATP World Tour Finals to train for the Davis Cup final.