Article

• Davis Cup preview: Spain vs. Argentina

  11/19/08 11:38 PM | Ricky Dimon
  The 2009 Davis Cup final is just days away, as either Spain or Argentina will follow the United States as champions. Argentina has two distinct advantages: home court, and no Rafael Nadal for Spain.
  
  It's Spain vs. Argentina for the 2009 Davis Cup title.
  
  Check that. It's Spain without Rafael Nadal vs. Argentina. Nadal's knee tendinitis, which also forced him out of his Masters Series Paris semifinal match against Nikolay Davydenko and also prevented him from playing the Masters Cup, will keep him out of this weekend's proceedings. He had hoped not going to Shanghai would allow him to be ready for the Davis Cup final, but that did not turn out to be the case.
  
  Marcel Granollers, who was a surprise title winner in Houston this spring, signed on as Nadal's replacement. Granollers joins David Ferrer, Feliciano Lopez, and Fernando Verdasco as the Spanish foursome.
  
  Argentina is countering with Jose Acasuso, Agustin Calleri, David Nalbandian, Juan Martin del Potro. On paper, Argentina looks like a heavy favorite, especially with the home court and surface advantages. Nalbandian is phenomenal indoors (he won both Masters Series titles in Madrid and Paris last year) and he recently resurrected his game by reaching the Paris final, where he lost to Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. Del Potro is not quite as on fire as he was this summer when he won four straight events in between Wimbledon and the U.S. Open, but the 6'6'' 20-year-old is still playing well. Nalbandian and Del Potro will be the go-to guys in singles on both Friday and Sunday.
  
  Spanish captain Emilio Sanchez, on the other hand, has some decisions to make. Because the final is on indoor hard courts (Argentina chose that surface to keep the Spaniards off their beloved clay), Lopez will probably get the nod in singles on both Friday and Sunday. He is one of the few Spaniards in history who actually prefers hard courts to clay, which he does due to his booming serve and prowess at the net. Furthermore, Ferrer has been mired in a dismal slump ever since the start of the U.S. Open Series. Verdasco has been up-and-down in 2008, but he has not enough to make Sanchez's choice between Verdasco and Ferrer a difficult one.
  
  Lopez and Verdasco will most likely face a must-win situation against, probably, Calleri and Acasuso. Granollers, however, could fill in if either Lopez or Verdasco looks dismal in Friday's singles.
  
  It's hard to predict a specific score for a Davis Cup tie since the singles rubbers on Sunday are often “dead” rubbers, meaning a team has already won 3-0 (or 3-1 heading into the fifth rubber). But for now, the pick is Argentina 4, Spain 1.

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