Spain Takes the Davis Cup as Verdasco is the Last Man Standing

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November 23, 2008

Spain Takes the Davis Cup as Verdasco is the Last Man Standing

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Spain ruined home country Argentina's try for its first Davis Cup title as Fernando Verdasco beat Jose Acasuso in a tough five set match.

You could say that the ATP got what is deserved. It had a year-end championship without its top player - Rafael Nadal's knees couldn't take the pounding anymore, its second ranked player wasn't feeling so good either - Roger Federer hurt his back, and then Federer wore out its fourth ranked player - Andy Murray fell apart in the semifinals after beating Federer in the last round robin match.

And here was the Davis Cup final which should have featured four of the top 12 players in the world and only one of them made it past the first day. Thus it was that a third rubber (matches are called rubbers in Davis Cup, a quaint word that has all kinds of other meaning by this time in history) that might have featured ArgentineanJuan Martin del Potro but featured, instead, his teammate Jose Acasuso because del Potro hurt his leg in the second rubber. Injuries are unavoidable but del Potro had already been limping to the end of the year and it's fair enough to add him into the "worn out" category.

I know, I'm a conspiracy theorist, but on the second point of the match between Acasuso and Spaniard Fernando Verdasco, Verdasco had to stop in the middle of a point and hold up his hand and request Hawkeye. A ball that should have been called out wasn't. For sure, the Spanish were not going to get any breaks today and if you say, "What's the big deal?", consider that making a bad call in the middle of the point is much harder for a player do deal with than if it comes at the end. The player not only has to think about what he's doing in the point, in the middle of that he then has to decide whether to stop the point and call for Hawkeye or continue playing, and then he has to endure jeers and whistles from the crowd if he does stop the point.

Acauso did what he does - hit his forehand very hard. But there's a reason he lost his serve to go down 2-4 in the first set. Whereas the 16th ranked Verdasco has developed consistency across all surfaces, the 48th ranked Acasuso is inconsistent on all surfaces, and it felt like this might be a less than satisfying ending to what looked like such a promising event. But the fast surface here rewards hard hitters like Acasuso and he somehow turned this into a memorable, if ultimately disappointing, match.

Acauso lost the first set 3-6 but he broke Verdasco early in the second set though he had help from the crowd. Verdasco served up a double fault on break point as the crowd whistled and yelled during his serve. Turnabout is fair play. If you remember, a Spanish fan did the same thing to Nalbandian yesterday. After exchanging breaks later in the set, Acasuso gave up his break advantage while serving for the set. He managed to pull it out in the tiebreaker, but it looked like he'd only delayed the inevitable and the wildness and unforced errors would sink him sooner rather than later.

Not quite. Acasuso hit a fantastic jump winner off a Verdasco overhead in the first game of the third set that belongs in the top thirty of all-time shots considering the pressure of the situation. Verdasco, meanwhile, hit his 7th double fault - not surprising as he was still hearing whistles and jeers throughout his serve - and Acasuso was up a break in the third set. There'd be four more breaks in the set as both players were kind of ragged, but the breaks were shared equally so Acasuso won the set 6-4 and found himself, improbably, up two sets to one.

After almost exactly three hours - which was part way through the fourth set, Acasuso officially joined the legion of the "worn out." His energy flagged just enough to let Verdasco break him and that was all Verdasco needed to take the fourth set, 6-3. And then, wouldn't you know it, Acasuso went from the worn out to the injured as he received treatment for an abdominal strain. From there it was all downhill as Acasuso went down 0-4 in the fifth set and ended up losing it 1-6.

Spain had managed to win hit Davis Cup without it's king Rafael. And what a year for Verdasco: a career high ranking, a win in a Davis Cup deciding rubber, and a trophy girlfriend named Ana Ivanovic who is also a sweetheart. As high as he must be right now and as much as this will do for his confidence - this was only his second victory in a live rubber (one that has any bearing on the outcome), I'd have to think that David Ferrer is wondering what the hell is going in. Verdasco replaced the higher ranked Ferrer after he was ineffective in the first rubber against Nalbandian.

I thought Ferrer outperformed himself last year. While that's a rather a ridiculous statement if you think about it, how can you outperform yourself? You can't perform better than you are unless you use performance enhancing drugs or the spirit of some past sports warrior overtakes your body for a short period of time. These things do happen you know. But it was unlikely that he could hold onto the fourth or fifth ranking with players like Andy Murray and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga coming along.

The problem is that as Ferrer tumbled down the top ten - he's now number 12, he lost the confidence that he was a top ten player. As unnatural as it sounds, if he could accept slightly lower expectations, he might be able to rebuild his confidence and get back where he belongs.

I'm glad they canceled the inconsequential fifth rubber between Nalbandian and Feliciano Lopez. In some way it makes the whole thing more dramatic. When it's over, it's over. Argentina is a country that truly loves its tennis. Soccer even likes tennis in Argentina. The country's sport demigod and recently named coach of its soccer team, Diego Maradona, regularly harasses opponents during Argentina's Davis Cup ties.

So I'm disappointed that Argentina didn't win its first Davis Cup title, but nobody gets it handed to them. That's why they play the tie.

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6 Comments on "Spain Takes the Davis Cup as Verdasco is the Last Man Standing"

Posted by Jenny, November 23, 2008 6:56 PM

Brilliant post, Nina. I felt for Nalbandian and Argentina today. What about Feli and Ferni bringing it home for Spain. Congratulations to them both. You know I've always rated Verdasco, another underachiever or a late developer who's cocooned himself by his temperament. At last he's using his brain and not just whacking the ball even harder when he gets into a panic. I didn't know who would crack first today, I suspected it might have been Acasuso, he just wasn't match fit. I tell you I had a very large tumbler of the hard stuff to hand, I was worn out watching them.

To me all this started going wrong with the Nalby/Calleri partnership. It didn't work before in DC and it certainly didn't gel on Saturday. Where was Canas? I've never seen Nalby talk so much.

I agree about David, his confidence isn't good at the moment. He has had injuries too, leg, knee and possibly shoulder, that would also make you lose confidence especially a physical player. There were times he was taped up like a parcel this year, there had to be something going on under those tapes that needed protecting. David is a serious minded perfectionist who's too hard on himself. I can relate to it. I'm sure he will sort himself out. imo, he's too good to be hanging around outside the top 10.

Posted by Sakhi, November 23, 2008 9:19 PM

Hey Nina,

I think I might be the only one around who actually thought Spain would win (even before Del Potro got injured!). My reasons were twofold: Feliciano Lopez has surprised me this year with how smart he's been playing (it all started last year actually when he took a set of Federer and I realised he had more than his pretty chiselled looks to rest upon) and secondly, I actually think the rest of the Spanish Armada has been smarting a little from the Nadal hegemony. If you read the local Spanish rags (and yes, cum grano of course on the media front), there's been a lot of chatter about how the other boys feel as if their efforts have been discounted etc... I think the Spaniards had more to prove here and they clearly did. Also, if you read websites like *Forty Deuce*--interesting reportage on how there was drama in the Argentinian camp pre the Cup. Nalby was a tad pissed off at Del Potro for playing in Shanghai etc....and seriously, did anyone think that Del Potro would make it here after his pain at Shanghai?? That boy clearly needed a rest.

All this to say, yes, the calendar is definitely to blame. Let's hope 2009 holds less injury drama.

Posted by Jenny, November 24, 2008 5:47 AM

I have to go along with Sakhi's comments regarding the Armada, Nina. These boys acted as a united team behind Sanchez and it clearly showed, and I've always admired Sanchez. It will leave one big hole when he stands down. He always believed his boys could do it with or without Nadal and he was right.

Another point, the change of surface was clearly based around Nalbandian, JMDP and Nadal before he had to withdraw. Again undermining the prowess of the other Spanish boys on this surface. Feli the great s/v player with the magnificent serve and supreme athlete, Ferni brought up on a hard court, fitness and talent, but can be shaky, David the warrior has adapted his clay court game and on his day can grind many an opponent down. So, the supreme all court player Rey David taking out a below par little David. Feli the better player in this encounter imo, equalling the score taking out an unfit JMDP. The doubles was a disaster as far as Nalby was concerned, I gather there was discord after the match.. the rest is history. At the end of the day you can't put all you're eggs in one basket, this time it wasn't all down to Nalbandian and Nadal.

Posted by Nina Rota, November 24, 2008 5:33 PM

You know, this has come up the past few years - whether to focus on Davis Cup and skip some of the fall schedule and maybe the Masters Cup or worry about wearing yourself out. Last year Roddick played only one fall tournament then played the Masters Cup which was good practice for the fast court the US chose for the final. Nadal should have skipped Paris or Madrid if he wanted to play the Davis Cup final.

I don't remember this being an issue a few years ago and here's one of the problems. Because player complain about the season being too long, they've moved Davis Cup up. Last year there were two weeks between the Masters Cup and Davis Cup. In 2004, there were three weeks. If players want a shorter season, some of them may end up choosing to skip Masters Cup and that's pretty silly for the ATP. Clearly they still need to chop off a few tournament weeks and move up the year end championships.

I knew there was some discord on the Argentine side because the Davis Cup website mentioned it and they are usually as vanilla as the ATP website - only adoration is allowed. Nalbandian is right, del Potro wore himself out by playing Paris, Madrid, and the Tennis Masters Cup. If I were del Potro, I'd have played Paris and Madrid to qualify for the Masters Cup because that's an honor. I would then have claimed toe/foot/leg or whatever injury because he'd been having toe problems then flown back to Mar del Plata.

Nalbandian's only big title is his Masters Cup so he's got nerve telling del Potro to skip it, but del Potro was in no shape to win it so I'm with Nalby. Luckily, Masters Cup will be in London for the next few years so it'll be less of an issue.

By the way Sakhi, 55,000 people agree with you: Federer will be back at number one next year: http://www.atptennis.com/1/en/2008news/no1_battle09.asp

Posted by Nina Rota, November 24, 2008 5:40 PM

By the way Jenny, Sanchez-Vicario resigned after the match.

Posted by Krystle Lee, November 25, 2008 2:17 AM

Hi Nina,

I agree that the Davis Cup being moved up one week this year was a big problem, because this was nowhere near as much of an issue in previous years because of the gap. I think it's a very silly move from the ITF, more like trying to give the impression of a shortened schedule rather than actually shortening it.

I agree that Del Potro should have skipped the Masters Cup. I think in normal circumstances, maybe he could have handled doing both, but he had suffering from many injury problems and niggles, and knew he was putting himself under danger by playing both but decided to do so anyway.

I guess, since it was his most successful season by far, he didn't know his body's limits well enough, like most established players would have known and tried to push it too far.

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Spain Takes the Davis Cup as Verdasco is the Last Man Standing

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