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Spain looks set for yet another Davis Cup title

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Matt Cronin

Matt Cronin is a senior editor at Inside Tennis magazine and the co-owner of the award-winning TennisReporters.net.

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Updated Sep 22, 2009 1:38 PM ET
     
 
The United States has won a record 32 Davis Cup titles, but by the looks of it, there's a new dynasty in town — Spain, which won titles in 2000, 2004 and 2008, and looks to be it's on its way to a fourth in the 21st century. Last weekend — fielding a "B" team with "A" team capabilities — the defending champs nailed down a 4-1 win over Israel in the semifinals behind David Ferrer, Juan Carlos Ferrero and Feliciano Lopez. Playing on Murcia on their beloved red clay, captain Albert Costa didn't even need his top two singles players (Rafael Nadal and Fernando Verdasco) as Israel's Andy Ram and Harel Levy have had virtually no success on the surface. Moreover, Costa was able to call upon a former No. 1 and French Open champ in Ferrero, who is having a solid year, and a former top-five player in Ferrer.
Spain has won its last 17 home ties and its last 19 on clay — and guess what? Instead of facing what surely would have been a huge challenge in having to travel to Croatia and face service bombers Ivo Karlovic and Marin Cilic in the final, they will get to stay at home, as the Czech Republic scored a 4-1 victory over their Eastern European foes behind marathon wins by Radek Stepanek and Tomas Berdych. Surely, if top-20 players and indoor-court lovers Stepanek and Berdych were playing at home, they would have a good shot at toppling Spain, but the aging Stepanek no longer likes to dig out balls on dirt, and the vast majority of the foot-speed-challenged Berdych's success has come on fast surfaces. That means Spain will be a heavy favorite in the final, even if Nadal and Verdasco aren't healthy enough to play. "They have the best clay-court players in the world — and definitely we are going to be outsiders, but we've been in that situation a couple of times this year and we used it to our advantage, and I believe we are going to do the same thing in December," said Stepanek, who had to face down a world record of 78 aces and four match points to beat Karlovic in a five-hour, 59-minute match. Costa will have a difficult decision for the final. If Nadal and Verdasco are healthy, he'll have to remove two members off his semifinal-winning team. Tommy Robredo, who played doubles with Lopez against Israel, is almost sure to go, but then Costa will be forced to choose between Ferrero and Ferrer, as Lopez and Verdasco are a tried and true doubles team. While the 19th-ranked Ferrer has been slightly more consistent this year, No. 21 Ferrero has been better at the majors, reaching the quarterfinals at Wimbledon and the fourth round at the U.S. Open. Ferrero's career has been largely up and down since he won the 2003 French Open and achieved No. 1, but he's still a better big-match player. Whatever the case, the Spanish crowds are sure to turn out in droves, which is going to make it very difficult for the Czechs, who will likely be outclassed physically and emotionally. "It's going to be a really tough atmosphere there, so we hope our fans are going to come and try to scream a little bit in the back of the huge pack of Spanish fans," Berdych said. Eight other nations qualified for the 2010 World Group, with Belgium, Chile, Ecuador, France, India, Serbia, Sweden and Switzerland scoring wins last weekend. They join Spain, the Czech Republic, Croatia, Israel, the United States, Argentina, Russia and Germany in next year's 16-team draw. No. 1 Roger Federer, who rarely competes in the event, landed in Italy just 32 hours after his loss to Juan Martin del Potro in the U.S. Open final, yet still managed to score two wins in singles while Stan Wawrinka took the other. With a record 15 Grand Slam titles, one would think Federer would like to place a Davis Cup crown on his bulging trophy shelf, but adding a potential four more playing opportunities could tire him out at the majors, and also for the mandatory Masters Series events. Last year, he skipped his nation's defeat at the hands of the United States in February. If Federer does decide to compete, he and Wawrinka would form a formidable duo who could win on any surface in any location. Now it's up to the great Swiss to decide whether putting the team above his individual desires is more important. "I truly enjoy playing for my country, but I'll also have to see where I have my priorities for next season," Federer said. "Of course, there are the Grand Slams, but there is also No. 1, which is a bit of a dilemma. If I want to play Davis Cup all the time, I might have to leave out some Masters 1000 tournaments. Like in the other years, I will see after the Australian Open how I feel and if I play the first round." While Federer has an excellent No. 2 in Wawrinka, Nadal has a phalanx of fine men behind him, Argentina's del Potro usually can count on former top-five player David Nalbandian to come up big, Serbia's Novak Djokovic is comfortable with the play of Janko Tipsarevic, and American Andy Roddick can sit back, while the Bryan brothers almost always win the doubles point. Pity world No. 3 Andy Murray, who has no one he can be comfortable with playing either singles or doubles. Last weekend, Britain was relegated to the obscure Group Two of the Euro/Africa zone when Poland's Michal Przysiezny beat teenager Dan Evans in the final match to secure a 3-2 victory. Murray won both of his singles matches, but Evans lost both of his, and Murray and Ross Hutchins were unable to win the doubles point. Murray sounded less than hopeful that things will turn around for Britain any time soon, and captain John Lloyd has to be concerned that his top player may not want to travel to the likes of Macedonia while in pursuit of his first Grand Slam title. "We didn't have any boys playing in the U.S. (Open) juniors, so it's going to take three, four, five, six years before we have a batch coming through," Murray said. "Hopefully, the people who are in charge will be able to produce that."

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